This report summarizes work conducted to establish a purification procedure specific to a narrow-spectrum antimicrobial peptide. This antimicrobial agent, termed a bacteriocin, was evaluated in previous work and determined to exhibit activity against a pathogenic organism of interest to the Army, Bacillus anthracis Sterne, a surrogate of the active form of Bacillus anthracis. As the current application of broad-spectrum antimicrobials promotes the development of multi-drug resistant microorganisms, targeted antimicrobials are being investigated as a suitable alternative. Although bacteriocins have exhibited great promise as narrow-spectrum antimicrobial agents, their wide-spread adaptation has been limited in part due to the time-consuming and costly processes employed for development. The work cited in this report presents a robust purification procedure for an individual bacteriocin to maximize the yield of the antimicrobial peptide for employment in future assays and development into a platform, such as a textile, that relays antimicrobial activity.
