Lys-Lys-Lys-Lys-Lys

Penta lysine is an antibacterial agent, that inhibits E. coli, A. baumannii, P. aeruginos, S. aureus, and B. subtilis, with MIC of 1.1-18 μM[1].

Short poly-L-lysines polypeptides such as trilysine (lys3), tetralysine (tetra-L-lysine, lys4) and pentalysine (penta-L-lysine, lys5) are cationic moieties that may be used in the construction of gene delivery vectors and DNA nanoparticles.

[1] Albada HB, et al., Short antibacterial peptides with significantly reduced hemolytic activity can be identified by a systematic L-to-D exchange scan of their amino acid residues. ACS Comb Sci. 2013 Nov 11;15(11):585-92. DOI:10.1021/co400072q