ArticleNature microbiology2024
Host defence peptide plectasin targets bacterial cell wall precursor lipid II by a calcium-sensitive supramolecular mechanism.
Article in Nature microbiology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed.
- Molecular action of NZ2114, a superior plectasin derivative.npj antimicrobials and resistance · 2026Article
- Bacterial cell envelope-targeting antibiotics.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2026Review
- Defensins as natural antimicrobial peptide scaffolds against antimicrobial-resistant pathogens: mechanisms, resistance risks, and translational prospects.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2026Review
- Solid-State NMR Approaches to Study Protein Structure and Protein-Lipid Interactions.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2026Article
- Enhanced antibacterial activity of antimicrobial peptide-antibiotic combinations against multidrug-resistant bacteria.FEMS microbes · 2026Review
- Chitosan-Hyaluronic Acid Composite Hydrogel with Slow-Release Hydrogen Sulfide and Cerium Oxide for Multifunctional Synergy to Promote Healing of Infected Wounds.International journal of nanomedicine · 2026Article
- Anticandidal Activity and Low Cytotoxicity of Modified Analogues of the Tobacco Defensin NaD1.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Microalgae, Cell Factories for Antimicrobial Peptides: A Promising Response to Antibiotic Resistance.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Hijacking the Electron Train: Menaquinone-Binding Antimicrobial Peptides.Chembiochem : a European journal of chemical biology · 2025Review
- Identification and antibacterial activity of a novel antimicrobial peptide attacin from Conogethes punctiferalis.Archives of microbiology · 2025Article
- Archaea appropriate weaponry to breach the bacterial cell wall.PLoS biology · 2025Article
- Trans-kingdom conservation of mechanism between bacterial actifensin and eukaryotic defensins.npj antimicrobials and resistance · 2025Article
- Antimicrobial peptide plectasin recombinantly produced inJournal of bacteriology · 2025Article
- Antimicrobial peptides: from discovery to developmental applications.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2025Review
- Antimycobacterial activity of the plectasin derivative NZ2114.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Article
- Screening and identification of antimicrobial peptides from the gut microbiome of cockroach Blattella germanica.Microbiome · 2024Article
- Designing Analogs of SAAP-148 with Enhanced Antimicrobial and Anti-LPS Activities.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- Membrane-Active Antibiotics Affect Domains in Bacterial Membranes as the First Step of Their Activity.Nano letters · 2024Article
- Supra-structures to target lipid II.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2024Article
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25 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Antimicrobial resistance is a leading cause of mortality, calling for the development of new antibiotics. The fungal antibiotic plectasin is a eukaryotic host defence peptide that blocks bacterial cell wall synthesis. Here, using a combination of solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance, atomic force microscopy and activity assays, we show that plectasin uses a calcium-sensitive supramolecular killing mechanism. Efficient and selective binding of the target lipid II, a cell wall precursor with an irreplaceable pyrophosphate, is achieved by the oligomerization of plectasin into dense supra-structures that only form on bacterial membranes that comprise lipid II. Oligomerization and target binding of plectasin are interdependent and are enhanced by the coordination of calcium ions to plectasin's prominent anionic patch, causing allosteric changes that markedly improve the activity of the antibiotic. Structural knowledge of how host defence peptides impair cell wall synthesis will likely enable the development of superior drug candidates.
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