posted on 2020-03-17, 08:36authored byJuhi Saraswat, Farooq Ahmed Wani, Khalid Imtiyaz Dar, M. Moshahid Alam Rizvi, Rajan Patel
Growing antibiotic resistance has
become a major health problem
and has encouraged many researchers to find an alternative class of
antibiotics. Combination therapy (covalent/noncovalent) is supposed
to increase antibacterial activity leading to a decrease in administration
dosage, thus lowering the risk of adverse side effects. The covalent
coupling sometimes leads to instability and loss in the structure
of AMPs. Therefore, herein, we have reported innovative research involving
the noncovalent coupling of melittin (MEL), an antimicrobial peptide
with a series of synthesized less toxic pyrrolidinium-based ionic
liquids (ILs) for which MTT assay was performed. The antibacterial
results of conjugates showed remarkable improvement in the MIC value
as compared to MEL and ILs alone against Escherichia
coli and Staphylococcus aureus. In addition, hemocompatibility results suggested
good selectivity of the noncovalent conjugate as a potential antibiotic
agent. Further, the docking study was employed to acquire the most
favorable conformation of MEL in the presence of ILs. The best possible
complex was further studied using various spectroscopic techniques,
which showed appreciable binding and stability of the complex.