Frontiers in Microbiology (Aug 2020)

Bacteria Modify Their Sensitivity to Chemerin-Derived Peptides by Hindering Peptide Association With the Cell Surface and Peptide Oxidation

  • Urszula Godlewska,
  • Bernadetta Bilska,
  • Paweł Majewski,
  • Elzbieta Pyza,
  • Brian A. Zabel,
  • Joanna Cichy

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.01819
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11

Abstract

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Chronic inflammatory skin diseases like psoriasis alter the local skin microbiome and lead to complications such as persistent infection with opportunistic/pathogenic bacteria. Disease-associated changes in microbiota may be due to downregulation of epidermal antimicrobial proteins/peptides, such as antimicrobial protein chemerin. Here, we show that chemerin and its bioactive derivatives have differential effects on the viability of different genera of cutaneous bacteria. The lethal effects of chemerin are enhanced by bacterial-derived ROS-induced chemerin peptide oxidation and suppressed by stationary phase sigma factor RpoS. Insight into the mechanisms underlying changes in the composition of cutaneous bacteria during autoreactive skin disease may provide novel ways to mobilize chemerin and its peptide derivatives for maximum antimicrobial efficacy.

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