GINOP projects (2017-2020)
The unexpected discovery of 800 plant peptides produced in Sinorhizobium meliloti -Medicago truncatula symbiosis prompted us to explore their novel activities more widely, especially for their possible use in therapies.
Developing novel peptide based antibiotics
Antibiotic resistant bacterial strains represent a global health problem. They become more and more common, which raises the concerns that untreatable bacterial infections could be the paramount health threats of this century. The large pharmaceutical companies reduced or even stopped the antibiotic drug development during the last 40 years and at present there are very few new drug candidates. Natural products are the fundamental sources of antibiotics and amongst them the antimicrobial peptides (AMP) are of special interest, because they are the effectors of innate immunity that defend the host against microbial infection. To date, more than 800 AMPs have been discovered in different organisms. The symPEPs acting in nitrogen fixing nodules might represent an exceptionally rich source of antimicrobial activities. These peptides were not even known a few years ago, thus, their antimicrobial properties and potentially new modes of action have not been explored yet. Our aim is to identify peptides both with broad range and very specific selective antimicrobial activities, design from them even shorter and more stable derivatives to reduce the cost of their chemical synthesis and test their potential to medical use them.