Fluorescent Antimicrobial Peptides Based on Nile Red: Effect of Conjugation Site and Chemistry on Wash-Free Staining of Bacteria.

Fluorescent probes for bacterial detection can be obtained by conjugating antimicrobial peptides with fluorescent dyes. However, little is known about the effect of the conjugation site and linker chemistry on staining efficiency. We synthesized three conjugates of the antimicrobial peptide ubiquicidin with the environmentally sensitive fluorophore Nile Red that differed by the attachment site and the chemical composition of the linker.