Lay summary
Antimicrobial-resistant bacteria has been recognised by the WHO as one of the greatest threats to humankind, and infectious diseases rank as the second most common cause of death worldwide. Without urgent action, most routine health treatments could be complicated by life threatening infections that are unable to be treated with existing antimicrobials. Naturally occurring antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), the host-defence molecules of most living organisms, have shown great promise as potential antibiotic candidates. Of these, lipopeptide based antibiotics such as Daptomycin are especially promising due to the unique and non-specific bactericidal mechanism of action. Thus, to date Daptomycin resistance is extremely rare. We have recently disclosed and patented a novel chemical method, namely CLipPA (Cysteine Lipidation on a Peptide or Amino acid) which enables the direct synthesis of lipopeptides in a single step. Using CLipPA, we aim to expand the library of lipopeptide analogues in search of novel therapeutic agents.