Development of antimicrobial peptides from host defense peptides (HDPs) of beetles of the Scarabaeidae family and their evaluation against microorganisms that cause infections associated with health care.

The resistance of microorganisms to drugs is today one of the greatest threats to global health and food safety.

One of the key strategies to deal with this problem is the search and/or development of new molecules with antimicrobial activity. Host defense peptides (HDPs) have gained relevance in the development of future therapeutic applications, potential in agriculture and vector disease control.

In this work it is proposed to design, characterize and evaluate the antimicrobial capacity of synthetic and modified analogues of HDPs identified in dung beetles.

For this, the susceptibility of clinical isolates and reference bacterial strains of the ESKAPE group (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter cloacae), E. coli, the mycobacterium Mycobaterium tuberculosis, will be evaluated in vitro. the yeasts Candida albicans and Cryptococcus neoformans, of the different designed peptides. Those peptides with better in vitro activity will be evaluated in a murine (in vivo) model of tuberculosis and disseminated candidiasis.

In this way we will be able to develop new molecules with the potential to develop new medicines that can deal with microorganisms of importance in health care.

Antimicrobials.

Chemical Synthesis.

Design.

Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides.

Antimicrobial resistance.

Host Defense Peptides.

In vitro.

In vivo.