Antimicrobial Peptide-polymer coacarvate micelles: shining light on the kinetic pathway of formation

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are promising candidates against resistant bacteria but their use as therapeutics is hampered by limited stability against enzymatic degradation and toxicity. To overcome these challenges we study nanopartiockles formed through peptide-polymer coacervation. In the present project we propose to study the kinetic pathways of coacervation induced by mixing various antimicrobial peptides (colistin, indolicidin and LL37) with poly(methacrylic acid)- poly(ethylene oxide) (PMAA-PEO). Static SAXS data have shown that indeed stable coacervates are formed and through preliminary TR-SAXS experiments on colistin/PMAA-PEO coacervates, we have shown that the process can be followed by rapid mixing in a stopped-flow apparatus, In the present proposal we suggest to complete these experiments and map the kinetic pathways for several AMPs.