Enzyme Mimicry for Combating Bacteria and Biofilms.

Area of Science:

• Biomimetic chemistry and materials science
• Antimicrobial drug development

Background:

• Antibiotic resistance is a growing global health crisis, exacerbated by bacterial biofilms.
• Existing treatments face challenges due to resistance and biofilm barriers.
• Artificial enzymes offer a stable, tunable alternative to natural enzymes for antimicrobial applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present recent progress in the design and synthesis of artificial enzymes as novel antibacterial agents.
• To demonstrate the application of artificial enzymes in combating planktonic bacteria, biofilms, and in vivo infections.
• To explore stimuli-responsive and biofilm-targeting strategies using artificial enzymes.

Main Methods:

• Direct utilization of intrinsic catalytic activities of artificial enzymes for bacterial inactivation.
• Peroxidase-mimic artificial enzymes to generate hydroxyl radicals for disinfection with low H2O2.
• Integration of artificial enzymes with stimuli-responsive materials (e.g., hydrogels) for controlled therapy.
• Design of DNase-mimetic artificial enzymes to degrade extracellular DNA (eDNA) in biofilms.

Main Results:

• Artificial enzymes effectively inactivated planktonic bacteria under mild conditions.
• Peroxidase-mimic artificial enzymes achieved efficient bacterial killing with reduced H2O2 toxicity.
• In vivo studies demonstrated efficacy in wound and lung disinfection in mice.
• Stimuli-responsive hydrogels showed controlled bacterial killing, promoting wound healing.
• DNase-mimetic artificial enzymes successfully inhibited biofilm formation and dispersed existing biofilms by cleaving eDNA.

Conclusions:

• Artificial enzymes represent a promising new class of antibacterial agents.
• Their tunable nature, stability, and diverse mechanisms offer advantages over traditional antibiotics.
• Further development of artificial enzymes holds potential for clinical and industrial antibacterial applications.