Jessica E Boles, Charlotte Bennett, Jennifer Baker, Kira L F Hilton, Hiral A Kotak, Ewan R Clark, Yifan Long, Lisa J White, Hin Yuk Lai, Charlotte K Hind, J Mark Sutton, Michelle D Garrett, Anne Cheasty, Jose L Ortega-Roldan, Mark Charles, Cally J E Haynes, Jennifer R Hiscock
The rise of antimicrobial resistance remains one of the greatest global health threats facing humanity. Furthermore, the development of novel antibiotics has all but ground to a halt due to a collision of intersectional pressures. Herein we determine the antimicrobial efficacy for 14 structurally related supramolecular self-associating amphiphiles against clinically relevant Gram-positive methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Gram-negative Escherichia coli . We establish the ability of these agents to selectively target phospholipid membranes of differing compositions, through a combination of computational host:guest complex formation simulations, synthetic vesicle lysis, adhesion and membrane fluidity experiments, alongside our novel 1 H NMR CPMG nanodisc coordination assays, to verify a potential mode of action for this class of compounds and enable the production of evermore effective next-generation antimicrobial agents...
August 24, 2022: Chemical Science