Antimicrobial activity and conformation of gaegurin-6 amide and its analogs

A function of the intra-disulfide bridge located at the C-terminal of Rana peptides has not been extensively studied. To investigate the function of the disulfide bridge related to the activity and the structure, we chose Gaegurin-6, isolated from Rana rugosa as a model peptide and synthesized linear analogs. The reduction of the disulfide bridge resulted in the complete loss of antimicrobial activity while replacements of cysteines by serines retained antimicrobial activity. Circular dichroism spectra from a titration of the peptides in sodium dodecyl sulfate indicated that the disulfide bridge of Gaegurin-6 might stabilize the induction of an helical structure in lipid membranes and the helical forming propensity of the peptides correlated with antimicrobial activity.     

肝脏表达的抗菌肽-2

抗菌肽是在多种生物体中表达的具有抗菌活性的肽类物质的总称.肝脏表达的抗菌肽-2(liver-expressed an-timicrobial peptide-2,LEAP-2)在肝脏中产生后分泌到血液中参与血液循环,从而发挥抗菌活性等作用.本文简要介绍LEAP-2的发现过程,对LEAP-2的基因组成、结构、诱导表达机理、抗菌活性以及基因调控等方面的研究进行综述,并展望LEAP-2可能的生理功能.     

Chemical synthesis of beta-defensins and LEAP-1/hepcidin.

A large and steadily growing subfamily of antimicrobially active peptides of animals and plants is formed by the defensins, which are highly disulfide-bonded, cationic peptides with a molecular mass of about 4 kDa. The synthesis of the human beta-defensins 1 and 2 (hBD-1, hBD-2) as well as of the novel murine beta-defensins 7 and 8 (mBD-7 and mBD-8) is reported. The peptides were synthesized by solid-phase peptide synthesis using fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl chemistry. The linear products were oxidized in the presence of the cysteine/cystine redox system to the biologically active molecules. The correct disulfide connectivity of the resulting cyclic products was partly verified by mass spectrometry and sequence analysis of the fragments obtained after tryptic cleavage. In addition, the recently discovered antimicrobially active human peptide LEAP-1/hepcidin, which contains four disulfide bonds, was successfully synthesized and subsequently oxidized. For Liver-expressed anti microbial peptide (LEAP)-1/hepcidin and hBD-1, the identity of native and synthetic peptides was demonstrated by high-pressure liquid chromatography and capillary electrophoretic analysis. The general synthetic procedure is suitable to rapidly perform the total chemical synthesis of novel fully bioactive defensins, which are expected to be identified soon, as well as of structurally modified analogs.     

New potent antimicrobial peptides from the venom of Polistinae wasps and their analogs

Four new peptides of the mastoparan family, characterized recently in the venom of three neotropical social wasps collected in the Dominican Republic, Polistes major major, Polistes dorsalis dorsalis and Mischocyttarus phthisicus were synthesized and tested for antimicrobial potency against Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli (E.c.) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and for hemolytic and mast cells degranulation activities. As these peptides posses strong antimicrobial activity (minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) values against Bacillus subtillis and E.c. in the range of 5–40 μM), we prepared 40 of their analogs to correlate biological activities, especially antimicrobial, with the net positive charge, hydrophobicity, amphipathicity, peptide length, amino acid substitutions at different positions of the peptide chain, N-terminal acylation and C-terminal deamidation. Circular dichroism spectra of the peptides measured in the presence of trifluoroethanol or SDS showed that the peptides might adopt -helical conformation in such anisotropic environments.     

Antimicrobial activity and structure of a consensus human β-defensin and its comparison to a novel putative hBD10

The spread of multidrug resistant bacteria owing to the intensive use of antibiotics is challenging current antibiotic therapies, and making the discovery and evaluation of new antimicrobial agents a high priority. The evaluation of novel peptide sequences of predicted antimicrobial peptides from different sources is valuable approach to identify alternative antibiotic leads. Two strategies were pursued in this study to evaluate novel antimicrobial peptides from the human β-defensin family (hBD). In the first, a 32-residue peptide was designed based on the alignment of all available hBD primary structures, while in the second a putative 35-residue peptide, hBD10, was mined from the gene DEFB110. Both hBDconsensus and hBD10 were chemically synthesized, folded and purified. They showed antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis, but were not hemolytic on human red blood cells. The NMR-based solution structure of hBDconsensus revealed that it adopts a classical β-defensin fold and disulfide connectivities. Even though the mass spectrum of hBD10 confirmed the formation of three disulfide bonds, it showed limited dispersion in ¹H NMR spectra and structural studies were not pursued. The evaluation of different β-defensin structures may identify new antimicrobial agents effective against multidrug-resistant bacterial strains.     

Three new antimicrobial peptides from the scorpion Pandinus imperator

Three novel cysteine-free venom peptides, which were referred to as Pantinin-1, Pantinin-2 and Pantinin-3, respectively, have been identified from the scorpion Pandinus imperator by cDNA cloning strategy. The precursor of each peptide consists of a signal peptide, a mature peptide with no disulfide bridges, and an acidic propeptide with a typical processing signal. Each of the three peptides is an α-helical, cationic and amphipathic molecule with 13 or 14 amino acid residues. Their amino acid sequences are homologous to those of some 13-mer antimicrobial peptides isolated from scorpions. Antimicrobial assay showed that all the three peptides possess relatively strong activities against Gram-positive bacteria and a fungus, but have very weak antimicrobial activities against Gram-negative bacteria. Toxicity assay showed that the three peptides exhibit very low or mild hemolytic activities against human red blood cells. It is interesting to see that Pantinin-3 is able to potently inhibit the growth of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) S13, a pathogen that can cause a number of human infections; this suggests that Pantinin-3 has great potential to be applied in the treatment of VRE infections. Our findings gain new insights into the structure/function relationships of the small linear cationic antimicrobial peptides from scorpions, and provide new templates for designing of antimicrobial agents targeting antibiotic-resistant pathogenic bacteria.     

大黄鱼肝表达抗菌肽2基因的克隆和原核表达

抗菌肽是在多种细胞中表达具有抗菌活性的肽类物质的总称,在免疫反应中发挥着非常重要的作用.通过同源克隆法克隆到大黄鱼肝脏表达的抗菌肽2(liver-expressed antimicrobial peptide-2,LEAP-2)基因的完整开放阅读框(Opening Reading Frame,ORF).克隆到的大黄鱼LEAP-2全长2236 bp,包含外显子Ⅰ78 bp,内含子Ⅰ880 bp,外显子Ⅱ179 bp,内含子Ⅱ1044 bp,外显子Ⅲ55 bp,编码序列312 bp,编码103个氨基酸.推断的氨基酸序列羧基端区域存在高度保守的4 个半胱氨酸残基,符合LEAP-2超家族的结构特征.同源性对比后显示LEAP-2基因在进化上高度保守,大黄鱼LEAP-2推断的氨基酸序列与牙鲆、黄颡鱼、蓝色鲶鱼和斑点叉尾鮰等鱼类之间的同源性均在95%以上.将大黄鱼LEAP-2 cDNA连接到pET-32a(+),构建了重组表达质粒pET-32a-LEAP-2,将其转化到大肠杆菌BL21上并用1.0 mmol/L IPTG诱导表达,获得了大小约为27 kDa的重组蛋白,与预期的一致.     

厚壳贻贝两种新型防御素的分子鉴定

贻贝是全球范围内具有重要经济价值和生态价值的双壳贝类。贻贝抗菌肽具有极强的分子多样性,也是当前抗菌肽研究的重要对象。防御素是贻贝抗菌肽的重要成员, 从厚壳贻贝中鉴定到2种新型防御素, 但其分子特性和免疫机制尚不清楚。为此, 对厚壳贻贝体内新发现的2种防御素开展研究。序列分析结果表明,2种新型防御素均具有节肢动物防御素结构特征,因而被命名为arthropod like defensin (ALD)。利用荧光定量PCR研究了2种防御素在贻贝不同组织及不同发育阶段的表达量差异。进一步分析了2种防御素在3种不同微生物诱导下的表达量时间曲线。利用固相化学合成技术对2种防御素的成熟肽区进行合成并开展了功能验证。研究结果表明, 2种ALD 主要表达部位在外套膜和消化腺, 且ALD-1具有雄性特异表达特征。此外, ALD-1和ALD-2在贻贝幼虫阶段均未表达; 在不同微生物刺激下, 2种ALD表现出不同的免疫反应模式, 显示出2种防御素具有不同的免疫调节机制。化学合成的2种ALD均具有抑菌活性, 其对不同微生物的抑制率在20%~80%之间。上述研究为深入了解贻贝免疫防御的分子机制,以及贻贝抗菌肽的免疫功能和后续的分子资源开发奠定了基础。