Welcome to BaAMPs, the first database dedicated to antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) specifically tested against microbial biofilms. The aim of this project is to provide useful resources for the study of AMPs against biofilms to microbiologist, bioinformatics researcher and medical scientist working in this field in an open-access framework.
Biofilms
In the majority of chronic infections, microorganisms are rarely found as planktonic form. Rather, they gather in biofilm communities. A biofilm is constituted of single or multiple organism species, such as fungi, bacteria, and viruses, typically attached to biotic (e.g. tissues) or abiotic sites and encased in a self-secreted extracellular matrix. The treatment for biofilm infections is particularly challenging because bacteria in these conditions become refractory to antibiotic drugs. The reduced effectiveness of current therapies spurs research for the identification of novel molecules endowed with antimicrobial activities and new mechanisms of antibiofilm action.AMPs
AMPs have been receiving increasing attention as potential therapeutic agents in infectious disease, because they represent a novel class of antimicrobial agents with a wide spectrum of activity and a low rate in inducing microbial drug-resistance. In the last 10 years, interest in biofilm treatment by AMPs has been increasing dramatically. The number of articles on AMPs and biofilm has reached more than 70 in 2013, whereas only a few articles were published in 2002–2003 (source: ISI Web of Science).Database description
In BaAMPs, information related to AMP sequence, chemical modifications, associated with target organisms, experimental methods, peptide concentration and percentage of biofilm inhibition/reduction, are manually extracted and curated from literature. Furthermore, peptides and experimental data are linked to the DOI of the related original article, allowing users to reach the on-line article page. Thanks to its sleek and intuitive web interface, users can rapidly query and retrieve information on AMPs/biofilms according to the desired search criteria.
Researchers are encouraged to register as users in the “login” section and contribute to the database by uploading peptide sequences and experimental data, which will be made available upon validation by the administrators. The scheme and management forms of BaAMPs are designed to easily handle the addition of new sequences and the integration of new sources of experimental data by any user.
The database will be weekly updated with additional data.