Impact of metal coordination and pH on the antimicrobial activity of histatin 5 and the products of its hydrolysis

This work focuses on the relationship between the coordination chemistry and antimicrobial activity of Zn(ii) and Cu(ii) complexes of histatin 5 and the products of its hydrolysis: its N-terminal fragment (histatin 5-8) and C-terminal fragment (histatin 8). Cu(ii) coordinates in an albumin-like binding mode and Zn(ii) binds to up to 3 His imidazoles. The antimicrobial activity of histatins and their metal complexes (i) strongly depends on pH - they are more active at pH 5.4 than at 7.4; (ii) the complexes and ligands alone are more effective in eradicating Gram-positive bacteria than the Gram-negative ones, and (iii) Zn(ii) coordination is able to change the structure of the N-terminal region of histatin 5 (histatin 5-8) and moderately increase all of the studied histatins’ antimicrobial potency.