抗菌肽对细菌杀伤作用的分子机制

抗菌肽是一类新型的抗菌物质,从最低等的生物病毒、细菌到高等的动植物都有广泛分布. 以往的研究主要集中于抗菌肽对细菌细胞膜的作用机制,已经构建了三种作用模式. 但近几年的研究表明,很多抗菌肽都能有效地穿过细菌的细胞膜,直接与胞内分子相互作用,并不引起膜的破裂. 抗菌肽根据其结构特点有着多种杀菌穿膜的机制,其后分别与胞内的靶分子如核酸,蛋白质,信号转导通路等互相作用,最终实现对细菌的杀伤作用.     

细菌对抗菌肽的耐受机制

抗菌肽广谱、高特异、高生物活性等特点决定其具极大的临床应用潜力,然而抗菌肽的耐受是其药物开发必须重视和亟待克服的问题。从生物学的观点看,部分细菌可以产生抗菌肽,其必定存在逃避自身抗菌肽作用的机制;从进化的观点看,宿主和病原体之间是相互抑制、相互逃避、相互适应的关系,细菌在漫长的进化中会形成应对抗菌肽的特殊机制。抗菌肽对细菌存在多种作用机制,其核心是依赖于与细胞膜相互作用或进入细胞,进而改变膜完整性或干扰胞内生理生化反应导致细菌死亡;而细菌通过减弱抗菌肽结合、降低抗菌肽有效浓度等方式产生对抗菌肽的耐受。这些耐受机制也为抗菌肽类药物开发提供重要的启示。     

抗菌肽的研究现状和挑战

抗菌肽(AMPs)广泛存在于生物体内,可以协助机体抵御外源微生物的侵害,是生物体先天性防御系统中的重要组成成分。普遍认为,抗菌肽通过膜损伤机制,破坏微生物细胞膜或细胞壁的完整性,达到抑杀微生物的目的。然而,越来越多的证据表明抗菌肽还存在非膜损伤机制,作用于胞内靶位点杀伤细胞。由于其独特的作用机制及广谱抗菌活性,抗菌肽被应用于各行各业。但是,抗菌肽的推广应用也面临着诸多难题,如生物稳定性、抗菌活性的维持和微生物耐受性等。主要对抗菌肽的种类、作用机制、微生物对抗菌肽耐受性的产生机制及抗菌肽的应用和挑战进行综述。     

昆虫抗菌肽对病原微生物作用的研究进展

在诱导和非诱导情况下,昆虫能产生各种类型的具有体液免疫功能的小分子物质-抗菌肽,参与机体对入侵病原微生物的免疫应答反应,构成了机体独特的免疫系统和免疫机制。这类抗菌肽或抗菌蛋白也存在于其它动物。研究表明,抗菌肽对细菌、真菌、病毒和原虫都具有作用,甚至对癌细胞也具有杀伤作用。随着抗菌肽家族的不断扩大,其结构研究的深入,相继提出了一些崭新的杀菌方式和作用机制。本文从目前国内外这方面的研究入手,分析各抗菌肽的作用特点、杀菌作用模式,展望了基因工程及临床应用的前景。     

抗菌肽构效关系及其表达策略研究进展

抗菌肽(antim icrobial peptides)是一类具有抗菌活性短肽的总称,广泛分布于原核生物与包括人类在内的真核生物体内,是宿主免疫防御系统中的重要组成部分。研究表明,抗菌肽除具有抗病毒、抗细菌、抗真菌作用外,还具有抗肿瘤作用。现从抗菌肽的结构特点与抗菌机制出发,对其构效关系及表达策略进行综述。     

家蝇幼虫抗菌肽的抗菌谱及其与抗生素的协同作用研究

研究3种家蝇幼虫抗菌肽的抗菌谱以及每种抗菌肽的最小抑菌浓度(MIC),初步探讨3种抗菌肽分别与青霉素、链霉素相结合后对抗菌活性的影响,并采用分级抑制浓度指数(Fractionalinhibitoryconcentrationindex,FIC)来定量检测抗菌肽与抗生素之间的抗菌作用关系。结果表明3种抗菌肽的抗菌谱不同,不同的抗菌肽对不同病原菌的抗菌活性不同。3种抗菌肽与链霉素、青霉素之间的抗菌协同关系因细菌种类不同。抗菌肽与抗生素之间并不是都存在协同关系,有些不相关,甚至表现为对抗关系,表明抗菌肽、抗生素与细菌三者的相互作用关系非常复杂。     

抗菌肽的分布及其药用前景

抗菌肽在生物界分布广泛,从最低等的生物病毒、细菌到高等的动植物都有分布,抗菌肽不但广谱抗菌,能杀死耐药菌株,而且它的杀菌机制使病原菌不易发生耐药突变,有望开发为新一代抗菌药物,目前人类已在着手这方面的研究,并得到可喜的进展。     

新型纳米银体外广谱抗菌作用及机制

目的探讨新型纳米银体外对临床感染常见细菌的广谱抗菌作用及机制。方法选择临床常见的金黄色葡萄球菌、大肠埃希菌、肺炎克雷伯菌、鲍曼不动杆菌和铜绿假单胞菌为研究对象,采用平板涂布法检测新型纳米银的广谱抗菌作用,利用透射电镜观察细菌呼吸链脱氢酶活性和细菌细胞膜的渗漏性改变,探讨新型纳米银的抗菌作用机制。结果新型纳米银浓度超过0.05μg/mL对临床感染常见的5种细菌具有明显的抑制作用;浓度5μg/mL的新型纳米银体外作用临床感染常见细菌5min,可100%抑制细菌生长。电镜观察新型纳米银可吸附在金黄色葡萄球菌和大肠埃希菌的菌体表面,改变了细菌形态结构。新型纳米银可明显抑制金黄色葡萄球菌与大肠埃希菌的呼吸链脱氢酶活性;较高浓度的新型纳米银可破坏金黄色葡萄球菌与大肠埃希菌的细胞膜,导致细菌胞浆内容物外漏。结论新型纳米银对临床感染常见细菌具有广谱高效的抗菌作用,其作用机制可能与新型纳米银吸附在细菌表面,抑制细菌表面生物大分子功能或活性有关,研究结果为新型纳米银抗菌作用的深入研究及临床应用提供了实验依据。     

抗菌肽Lfcin15-Me8分子设计及对老年呼吸道致病菌铜绿假单胞菌的抑菌性能分析

探讨人工设计合成的Lfcin15-Me8分子对老年病患者中铜绿假单胞菌抑菌活性研究。从老年病患痰液中分离鉴定铜绿假单胞菌(Pseudomonas aeruginosa)感染情况,截取牛乳铁蛋白素(Lfcin B)1-15和蜂毒素(Melittin)1-8核心氨基酸序列,固相合成新型抗菌肽分子,采用微量肉汤稀释法,测定新型抗菌肽分子对临床分离菌株的抑菌活性。结果显示,铜绿假单胞菌占院内感染的32.2%,位列致病菌第二位。合成的新型抗菌肽分子Lfcin15-Me8,为阳离子型抗菌肽,并富含α-螺旋。对临床铜绿假单胞菌抑菌MIC值均达到128μg/m L以下,其中最低达到32μg/m L,具有良好抗菌活性。铜绿假单胞菌在老年呼吸道感染中占较大比重,需注意防控,人工合成的Lfcin15-Me8分子可抑制临床铜绿假单胞菌的生长繁殖。     

新疆家蚕抗菌肽抗菌作用的超微结构观察及抗菌机理初探

为探讨基因工程表达的新疆家蚕(Bombyx mori)抗菌肽(cecropin-XJ)的抗菌机制,通过紫外分光光度法研究抗菌肽的抑菌动力学,并采用透射电镜观察抗菌肽作用于金黄色葡萄球菌(Staphylococcus aureus)后的超微结构,对抗菌肽抗菌机理进行初步探讨。结果表明,抗菌肽抑菌作用比较明显,抗菌肽的活性与作用时间有关。抗菌肽可能是通过"桶-板"模式渗透细胞膜,从而影响细胞膜的结构和功能,使细胞膜形成许多孔道,增强了金黄色葡萄球菌细胞的通透性,造成细胞内的原生质扩散,并从孔道向胞外渗漏,影响了细菌的代谢系统,从而起到抑菌、杀菌作用。抗菌肽使金黄色葡萄球菌细胞内容物大量渗漏而死亡,死亡细胞的细胞壁保持完整,表明细胞膜是抗菌肽作用的主要靶位点。     

家蝇抗菌肽的抑菌动力学研究及其机理初探

利用鼠伤寒沙门氏菌针刺诱导家蝇幼虫表达抗菌肽,对抗菌肽的抑菌动力学进行研究,并通过抗菌肽样品对不同细菌动力学特性的研究出发对抗菌肽抑菌作用机制进行探讨。研究发现抗菌肽样品的活性与作用时间有关,24h内出现一到两个活性峰,同一抗菌肽样品对不同细菌的抑菌动力学有差异,抗菌肽的抑菌动力学机制应该与它的的抑菌作用机制有关。通过电镜观测、细胞磷代谢、紫外吸收物测定以及抗菌肽与细菌DNA相互作用结果可知,微生物诱导家蝇表达的抗菌肽样品不仅能够造成细菌细胞的快速坍塌破裂而且能够破坏细胞核心,与DNA结合作用。抗菌肽抑菌动力学的解释：微生物诱导产物中含有两类抗菌肽,一类抗菌肽能造成细胞膜的快速坍塌破裂形成第一个活性峰;另一类抗菌肽可进入细胞,破坏细胞核心,造成紫外吸收物大量外泄形成第二个活性峰。     

Antimicrobial peptides: pore formers or metabolic inhibitors in bacteria?

Antimicrobial peptides are an abundant and diverse group of molecules that are produced by many tissues and cell types in a variety of invertebrate, plant and animal species. Their amino acid composition, amphipathicity, cationic charge and size allow them to attach to and insert into membrane bilayers to form pores by 'barrel-stave', 'carpet' or 'toroidal-pore' mechanisms. Although these models are helpful for defining mechanisms of antimicrobial peptide activity, their relevance to how peptides damage and kill microorganisms still need to be clarified. Recently, there has been speculation that transmembrane pore formation is not the only mechanism of microbial killing. In fact several observations suggest that translocated peptides can alter cytoplasmic membrane septum formation, inhibit cell-wall synthesis, inhibit nucleic-acid synthesis, inhibit protein synthesis or inhibit enzymatic activity. In this review the different models of antimicrobial-peptide-induced pore formation and cell killing are presented.     

Antibacterial activity and dual mechanisms of peptide analog derived from cell-penetrating peptide against Salmonella typhimurium and Streptococcus pyogenes

A number of research have proven that antimicrobial peptides are of greatest potential as a new class of antibiotics. Antimicrobial peptides and cell-penetrating peptides share some similar structure characteristics. In our study, a new peptide analog, APP (GLARALTRLLRQLTRQLTRA) from the cell-penetrating peptide ppTG20 (GLFRALLRLLRSLWRLLLRA), was identified simultaneously with the antibacterial mechanism of APP against Salmonella typhimurium and Streptococcus pyogenes. APP displayed potent antibacterial activity against Gram-negative and Gram-positive strains. The minimum inhibitory concentration was in the range of 2 to 4 μM. APP displayed higher cell selectivity (about 42-fold increase) as compared to the parent peptide for it decreased hemolytic activity and increased antimicrobial activity. The calcein leakage from egg yolk l-α-phosphatidylcholine (EYPC)/egg yolk l-α-phosphatidyl-dl-glycerol and EYPC/cholesterol vesicles demonstrated that APP exhibited high selectivity. The antibacterial mechanism analysis indicated that APP induced membrane permeabilization in a kinetic manner for membrane lesions allowing O-nitrophenyl-β-d-galactoside uptake into cells and potassium release from APP-treated cells. Flow cytometry analysis demonstrated that APP induced bacterial live cell membrane damage. Circular dichroism, fluorescence spectra, and gel retardation analysis confirmed that APP interacted with DNA and intercalated into the DNA base pairs after penetrating the cell membrane. Cell cycle assay showed that APP affected DNA synthesis in the cell. Our results suggested that peptides derived from the cell-penetrating peptide have the potential for antimicrobial agent development, and APP exerts its antibacterial activity by damaging bacterial cell membranes and binding to bacterial DNA to inhibit cellular functions, ultimately leading to cell death.     

Design and Synthesis of Lipopolysaccharide-Binding Antimicrobial Peptides Based on Truncated Rabbit and Human CAP18 Peptides and Evaluation of Their Action Mechanism

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is a toxic and immunogenic agent for human. Additionally, LPS is a good target for some antimicrobial compounds, including antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). LPS-binding peptides (LBPs) can recognize and neutralize LPS. Rabbit and human cathelicidins are AMPs with LPS-binding activity. In this study, we designed and synthesized two new truncated LBPs from rabbit and human CAP18 peptides by in silico methods. After synthesis of peptides, the antimicrobial properties and LPS-binding activity of these peptides were evaluated. The parental rabbit and human CAP18 peptides were selected as positive controls. Next, the changes in the secondary structure of these peptides before and after treatment with LPS were measured by circular dichroism (CD). Human cytotoxicity of the peptides was evaluated by MTT and red blood cells (RBCs) hemolysis assays. Finally, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), confocal microscopy, and flow cytometry were performed to study the action mechanism of these peptides. Results indicated that the hCap18 and rCap18 had antibacterial activity (at a MIC of 4–128 μg/mL). The results of the quantitative LAL test demonstrated that LPS-binding activity of hCap18 peptide was better than rCap18, while rCap18 peptide had better antimicrobial properties. Furthermore, rCap18 had less cytotoxicity than hCap18. However, both peptides were nontoxic for normal human skin fibroblast cell in MIC range. In conclusion, rCap18 has good antibacterial properties, while hCap18 can be tested as a diagnostic molecule in our future studies.

     

Dual host-defence functions of SPLUNC2/PSP and synthetic peptides derived from the protein

PSP (parotid secretory protein)/SPLUNC2 (short palate, lung and nasal epithelium clone 2) is expressed in human salivary glands and saliva. The protein exists as an N-glycosylated and non-glycosylated form and both appear to induce agglutination of bacteria, a major antibacterial function for salivary proteins. Both forms of PSP/SPLUNC2 bind LPS (lipopolysaccharide), suggesting that the protein may also play an anti-inflammatory role. Based on the predicted structure of PSP/SPLUNC2 and the location of known antibacterial and anti-inflammatory peptides in BPI (bactericidal/permeability-increasing protein) and LBP (LPS-binding protein), we designed GL13NH2 and GL13K, synthetic peptides that capture these proposed functions of PSP/SPLUNC2. GL13NH3 agglutinates bacteria, leading to increased clearance by macrophages and reduced spread of infection in a plant model. GL13K kills bacteria with a minimal inhibitory concentration of 5-10 μg/ml, kills bacteria in biofilm and retains activity in 150?mM NaCl and 50% saliva. Both peptides block endotoxin action, but only GL13K appears to bind endotoxin. The peptides do not cause haemolysis, haemagglutination in serum, inhibit mammalian cell proliferation or induce an inflammatory response in macrophages. These results suggest that the GL13NH2 and the modified peptide GL13K capture the biological activity of PSP/SPLUNC2 and can serve as lead compounds for the development of novel antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory peptides.     

新型抗菌肽——表面活性素、伊枯草菌素和丰原素

表面活性素（surfactin）、伊枯草菌素（iturin）和丰原素（fengycin）是一类主要由革兰阳性芽胞杆菌通过非核糖体合成途径产生的抗菌肽,一般是由1个β-羟基脂肪酸与7～10个氨基酸肽链以酰胺键连接而成的环肽,具有抗细菌、抗真菌、抗病毒、抗肿瘤等生物活性,在医疗方面具有良好的应用前景。目前,人们对这3种新型抗菌肽在医药领域中的研究进展所知甚少,故本文对其发现历史、结构特点、作用机制、生物合成和应用价值进行阐述,为后续研究提供借鉴。     

Lipopolysaccharide induces amyloid formation of antimicrobial peptide HAL-2

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), the important component of the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria, contributes to the integrity of the outer membrane and protects the cell against bactericidal agents, including antimicrobial peptides. However, the mechanisms of interaction between antimicrobial peptides and LPS are not clearly understood. Halictines-2 (HAL-2), one of the novel antimicrobial peptides, was isolated from the venom of the eusocial bee Halictus sexcinctus. HAL-2 has exhibited potent antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and even against cancer cells. Here, we studied the interactions between HAL-2 and LPS to elucidate the antibacterial mechanism of HAL-2 in vitro. Our results show that HAL-2 adopts a significant degree of β-strand structure in the presence of LPS. LPS is capable of inducing HAL-2 amyloid formation, which may play a vital role in its antimicrobial activity.     

Synthesis and antibacterial activity of analogues of the N-terminal fragment of the sarcotoxin IA antimicrobial peptide

Three 18-membered analogues of the N-terminal fragment of the sarcotoxin IA cationic antimicrobial peptide were synthesized by the solid phase method of peptide synthesis with the use of swellographic monitoring. The ability of these peptides to inhibit the growth of various bacteria in culture medium and their hemolytic activity in experiments on human erythrocytes were studied. The analogue completely corresponding to the N-terminal amino acid sequence of the natural sarcotoxin IA with the amide group on its C-terminus exhibited higher antibacterial activity. The presence of carboxyl group on the C-terminus or the substitution of Tyr for Trp2 resulted in a decrease in the antimicrobial activity of the peptide. Our results indicate that the amphiphilic N-terminal peptide corresponding to the 1-18 sequence of sarcotoxin IA involves the moieties responsible for the antimicrobial activity of the antibiotic.     

Novel short antimicrobial peptide isolated from Xenopus laevis skin

A rich source of bioactive peptides, including a large number of antimicrobial peptides, has been found in amphibian skin. In this study, a novel short antimicrobial peptide was purified from Xenopus laevis skin and characterised through reversed‐phase high‐performance liquid chromatography, Edman degradation and matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionisation time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry. The peptide was composed of six amino acids with a sequence of DEDLDE and thus named X. laevis antibacterial peptide‐P2 (XLAsp‐P2). Transmission electron microscopy revealed that this peptide showed potential antimicrobial abilities against bacteria by damaging the bacterial cell membrane. XLAsp‐P2 maybe inhibit bacterial growth by binding to the microbial genomic DNA. The peptide also exhibited a weak haemolytic activity against rabbit red blood cells. Therefore, XLAsp‐P2 is a novel short anionic antibacterial peptide with broad activities. Copyright © 2017 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.