RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article T1 Protein-Based Films Functionalized with a Truncated Antimicrobial Peptide Sequence Display Broad Antimicrobial Activity A1 Da Costa, André A1 Pereira, A. A1 Sampaio, Paula A1 Rodríguez Cabello, José Carlos A1 Gomes, Andreia C. A1 Casal, Margarida A1 Machado, Raúl K1 Microbiología K1 Antimicrobial materials K1 Materiales antimicrobianos K1 Skin infections K1 Infecciones de la piel K1 2414 Microbiología AB The increasing bacterial resistance to antibiotics is driving strong demand for new antimicrobial biomaterials. This work describes the fabrication of free-standing films exhibiting antimicrobial properties by combining, in the same polypeptide chain, an elastin-like recombinamer comprising 200 repetitions of the pentamer VPAVG (A200) and an 18-amino-acid truncated variant of the antimicrobial peptide BMAP-28, termed BMAP-18. The fusion protein BMAP-18A200 was overexpressed and conveniently purified by a simplified and scalable nonchromatographic process. Free-standing films of BMAP-18A200 demonstrated to be stable without requiring cross-linking agents and displayed high antimicrobial activity against skin pathogens including Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria as well as unicellular and filamentous fungi. The antimicrobial activity of the films was mediated by direct contact of cells with the film surface, resulting in compromised structural integrity of microbial cells. Furthermore, the BMAP-18A200 films showed no cytotoxicity on normal human cell lines (skin fibroblasts and keratinocytes). All of these results highlight the potential of these biotechnological multifunctional polymers as new drug-free materials to prevent and treat microbial infections. PB American Chemical Society SN 2373-9878 YR 2021 FD 2021 LK https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/55044 UL https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/55044 LA eng NO ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, 2021, 7, 2, 451–461 NO Producción Científica DS UVaDOC RD 11-jul-2024