Temporins : activity and mechanism.

• Main Author: Li, Quan-Hui.
• Other Authors: Surajit Bhattacharyya
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Science
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/52547
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The rise of antibiotics resistance bacteria is causing a huge problem worldwide. Hence, there is a pressing need to discover new alternatives to current antibiotics. One such alternative is temporins. Temporins are an important class of short antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) secreted from the glands of frog’s skin. These frogs live in harsh conditions and the presence of temporins indicates the importance of these peptides as part of a frog’s innate defense. Despite being the shortest AMPs found to date, temporins are not only effective against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, as well as fungal and viruses. Some temporins are even able to kill solid tumors. In addition, some temporins can synergize with each other to enhance their antimicrobial activity. Most temporins induce their antibacterial activity by forming transmembrane pores and allowing molecules to leave and enter the cell, thereby killing it. Unlike antibiotics, there is low likelihood for bacteria to develop resistance against these peptides as this will require the alteration of their membrane composition, which is a costly solution. With these benefits mentioned above, temporins can be ideal candidate as an anti-infective agent especially with the increasing rise of antibiotic resistance pathogens.