Sequence diversity of apidaecin-like peptides arresting the terminating ribosome.

The Proline-rich Antimicrobial Peptide (PrAMP) apidaecin (Api) inhibits translation by binding in the ribosomal nascent peptide exit tunnel, trapping release factors RF1 or RF2, and arresting ribosomes at stop codons. To explore the extent of sequence variations of the native 18-amino acid Api that allows it to preserve its activity, we screened a library of synthetic mutant Api genes expressed in bacterial cells, resulting in nearly 350000 peptide variants with multiple substitutions. By applying orthogonal negative and positive selection strategies, we identified a number of multi-substituted Api variants capable of arresting ribosomes at stop codons. Our findings underscore the critical contribution of specific amino acid residues of the peptide for its on-target function while significantly expanding the variety of PrAMPs acting on the terminating ribosome. Additionally, some of the tested synthesized multi-substituted Api variants exhibit improved antibacterial activity compared to that of the wild type PrAMP and may constitute the starting point to develop clinically useful antimicrobials.