Polyoxometalate-Driven Self-Assembly of Short Peptides into Multivalent Nanofibers with Enhanced Antibacterial Activity

Abstract

Multivalent peptide nanofibers have attracted intense attention as promising platforms, but the fabrication of those nanofibers is mainly dependent on the spontaneous assembly of β-sheet peptides. Herein we report an alternative approach to the creation of nanofibers: the polyoxometalate-driven self-assembly of short peptides. The resultant nanofibers with concentrated positive charges are excellent multivalent ligands for binding with bacterial cells and thus lead to a salient improvement in bioactivity.

Keywords: bioactivity; ionic self-assembly; multivalent nanofibers; polyoxometalates; short peptides.