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Updated: Jul 18, 2026

Qualitative and Quantitative Assays for Detection and Characterization of Protein Antimicrobials
Published on: April 10, 2016
Antifungal activity from 14-helical beta-peptides
Amy J Karlsson1, William C Pomerantz, Bernard Weisblum
1Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
Abstract:
We have discovered that short beta-peptides (9 or 10 residues) designed to adopt globally amphiphilic helical conformations display significant antifungal activity. The most promising beta-peptides cause little lysis of human red blood cells at concentrations that kill Candida albicans, a common human fungal pathogen. Since fungi are eukaryotes, discrimination between fungal and human cells is a significant finding. Our beta-peptides are active under assay conditions that mimic physiological ionic strength; in contrast, alpha-helix-forming host-defense alpha-peptides are inactive against C. albicans under these conditions.
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