The purpose of this work is to set up a general protocol for the production of antimicrobial materials based on cellulose and peptides. We exploited the chemical ligation reaction to achieve the conjugation of peptides to cellulose; to this aim, we produced thioester peptides and cysteine-modified cellulose. As the thioester handle can be inserted at any position of the peptide, the peptide can be immobilized onto the cellulose through its N- or C-terminal end or through any other position within the sequence. Our experiments performed on Escherichia coli cultures show that the cellulose conjugated to the peptides lasioglossin-III and TBKKG6A causes a significant reduction in the concentration of viable cells as compared to unmodified cellulose. In conclusion, antimicrobial peptides bound to cellulose through a covalent bond retain their activity and therefore have the potential to be used as active ingredients in antimicrobial materials.
Keywords: E. coli; antimicrobial; cellulose; chemical ligation; conjugation; peptide.