An Alpha/Beta Chimeric Peptide Molecular Brush For Eradicating Mrsa Biofilms And Persister Cells To Mitigate Antimicrobial Resistance

Infections involving methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus present great challenges, especially when biofilms and persister cells are involved. In this work, an alpha/beta chimeric polypeptide molecular brush (alpha/beta CPMB) is reported to show excellent performance in inhibiting the formation of biofilms and eradicating established biofilms. Additionally, the polymer brush efficiently killed metabolically inactive persister cells that are antibiotic-insensitive. Antimicrobial mechanism studies showed that alpha/beta CPMB causes membrane disturbance and a substantial increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels to kill bacteria, and mesosome-like structure formation was also observed. Furthermore, the polymer brush was able to kill clinically isolated multidrug resistant Gram-positive bacteria with no risk of antimicrobial resistance. The alpha/beta CPMB has demonstrated great potential in addressing the great challenge of eradicating multidrug resistant Gram-positive bacterial infections.