Peptides with pan‐antimicrobial affinity were synthesized and decorated with environmentally sensitive fluorophores nitrobenzoxadiazole (green) and merocyanine (red). The labeling efficacies against a range of clinically relevant fungal and Gram‐negative and positive bacterial species (Candida albicans, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus) were explored. The fluorogenic probes containing exclusively l or d‐amino acids showed rapid and efficient labeling of all microbial species, whereas probes with a mixture of l or d‐amino acids failed to label fungi or bacteria, highlighting the importance of the α‐helical peptide structure for interaction with the microbial cell membrane. Importantly, the nature of the dye allowed fluorescence detection/labeling without the need for a wash step, paving the way for direct application of the probes.

中文翻译：

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免洗，基于肽的荧光探针，用于微生物成像

合成具有泛抗菌亲和力的肽，并用对环境敏感的荧光团硝基苯并恶二唑（绿色）和花菁（红色）修饰。探索了对一系列临床相关的真菌和革兰氏阴性和阳性细菌（白色念珠菌，大肠杆菌和金黄色葡萄球菌）的标记效果。仅包含l或d-氨基酸的荧光探针显示了所有微生物物种的快速有效标记，而具有l或d混合物的探针氨基酸未能标记真菌或细菌，突显了α螺旋肽结构对于与微生物细胞膜相互作用的重要性。重要的是，染料的性质使得无需检测步骤即可进行荧光检测/标记，从而为直接应用探针铺平了道路。