Antimicrobial peptide shows enhanced activity and reduced toxicity upon grafting to chitosan polymers

Here we report that grafting of a short antimicrobial peptide, anoplin, to chitosan polymers is a strategy for abolishing the hemolytic propensity, and at the same time increasing the activity of the parent peptide. Anoplin-chitosan conjugates were synthesized by CuAAC reaction of multiple peptides through 2-azidoacetyl groups on chitosan.