A colorimetric assay for rapid screening of antimicrobial peptides

The increased resistance of various bacteria toward available antibiotic drugs has initiated intensive research efforts into identifying new sources of antimicrobial substances. Short antibiotic peptides (10-30 residues) are prevalent in nature as part of the intrinsic defense mechanisms of most organisms and have been proposed as a blueprint for the design of novel antimicrobial agents. Antimicrobial peptides are generally believed to kill bacteria through membrane permeabilization and extensive pore-formation. Assays providing rapid and easy evaluation of interactions between antimicrobial membrane peptides and lipid bilayers could significantly improve screening for substances with effective antibacterial properties, as well as contribute to the elucidation of structural and functional properties of antimicrobial peptides. Here we describe a colorimetric sensor in which particles composed of phospholipids and polymerized polydiacetylene (PDA) lipids were shown to exhibit striking color changes upon interactions with antimicrobial membrane peptides. The color changes in the system occur because of the structural perturbation of the lipids following their interactions with antimicrobial peptides. The assay was also sensitive to the antibacterial properties of structurally and functionally related peptide analogs.