The development of antimicrobial γ-AApeptides

Host-defense peptides (HDPs) are promising next generation of antibiotic agents, as they have the potential to circumvent emerging drug resistance, due to their mechanism of bacterial killing through disruption of their membranes. Nonetheless, HDPs have intrinsic drawbacks such as low-to-moderate activity, susceptibility to enzymatic degradation. In the past few years, we developed a new class of peptidomimetics named ‘γ-AApeptides’, which have superior resistance to proteolysis and a variety of diversification via straightforward synthesis. Our recent studies suggested that γ-AApeptides can mimic the bactericidal mechanism of HDPs and show potent and broad-spectrum activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative multidrug-resistant bacteria. In this review, we summarize our current studies of antimicrobial γ-AApeptides and discuss their potential future development as antimicrobial peptidomimetics.