猪源抗菌肽PMAP-36的序列设计及其结构优化的研究进展

抗生素的耐药性和动物源性食品中的药物残留问题严重威胁全球公共卫生系统。因此,开发出不易产生耐药性、抗菌活性高的新型抗菌药物迫在眉睫。抗菌肽因其分子量小、抗菌谱广、不易产生耐药性等优点受到科学家们的广泛关注,但天然抗菌肽具有抗菌活性低、溶血活性和细胞毒性等缺陷。随着抗菌肽序列和结构的不断优化,多种具有显著体内外抗菌活性且安全高效的新型抗菌药物被研发出来。猪源抗菌肽PMAP-36是从猪骨髓细胞中分离出来的一种具有典型两亲性α-螺旋结构的高阳离子抗菌肽。本文就国内外关于猪源抗菌肽PMAP-36的序列设计及其结构优化等方面的研究进展进行综述。     

杂合抗菌肽在毕赤酵母中的表达及其活性测定

为获得溶血活性低、抗菌活性高的杂合抗菌肽,以家蝇抗菌肽Cec Md和中国林蛙抗菌肽Chensirin为母体肽,并结合毕赤酵母偏爱密码子的原则,设计出6条具有抗菌潜力的新型杂合抗菌肽,将其命名为CC22、CC28、CC29、CC30和CC34(1),CC34,利用SOE-PCR技术合成所需的目的基因,并将其克隆至毕赤酵母表达载体pGAPZαA,通过电击转化技术,将其转化至毕赤酵母SMD1168中,经含有Zeocin的抗性平板筛选阳性转化子,YPD液体培养72h后,经Tricine-SDS-PAGE检测出目的蛋白,然后采用高效液相色谱法对其进行纯化。检测结果显示,表达产物CC29对大肠杆菌、鸡沙门氏菌的最小抑菌浓度(MIC)均为25μg/ml;CC34(1)对大肠杆菌表现相对较弱的抑制作用,最小抑菌浓度为100μg/ml;CC34对鸡沙门氏菌和金黄色葡萄球菌的最小抑菌浓度为50μg/ml;且杂合抗菌肽对有益菌均没有表现出抑制作用。6条杂合肽的溶血活性均呈现较低水平,其中表现出抗菌活性的3条抗菌肽中,以CC29的溶血活性最低,CC34(1)和CC34相对次之。结合抑菌活性,CC29和CC34的抑菌效果较为明显,从而确定溶血活性低且抗菌活性较高的CC29和CC34为新型杂合抗菌肽。     

抗菌肽结构与功能关系及分子改造研究进展

抗菌肽是生物体产生的一种具有抗菌活性的多肽小分子,具有广谱、特异性的抗菌、抗病毒、抗肿瘤等作用。研究表明抗菌肽的正电荷含量、疏水性和肽链结构对抗菌肽的活性至关重要的。围绕以上三个方面对抗菌肽进行分子设计和改造,以期更加有效地提高抗菌肽的抗菌活性,获得到更加高效、低毒的抗菌肽产品。该文主要通过抗菌肽结构与功能的关系,介绍抗菌肽分子设计的研究进展。     

生物信息学用于抗菌肽预测和分子设计的研究进展

抗菌肽(AMP)以其特异性抗菌、抗病毒、抗肿瘤功能及快速、广谱、高效等特点,迅速成为具有重要研究价值的新型生物活性肽。寻找合适方法最大限度提高其活性,降低毒性和成本,是新型抗菌肽药物研发过程中面临的首要问题。应用生物信息学工具对新型抗菌肽进行预测或对天然抗菌肽进行分子设计成为解决这一问题的关键。对生物信息学在抗菌肽预测和优化设计中的最新进展进行综述,以期扩大抗菌肽的来源,提高现有抗菌肽的生物活性。     

抗菌肽活性及天然抗菌肽的改造

抗菌肽具有抗菌谱广、热稳定性强、分子量小及免疫原性小等特点,其杀菌机制独特,病原菌不易产生耐药性,有望开发成新一代肽类抗生素。本文主要综述了影响抗菌肽生物活性的生化性质,即螺旋度、疏水性、两亲性、正电荷数等,并从结构的角度论述了其对抗菌肽抑菌活性的影响。部分抗菌肽具有空间结构不稳定、溶血活性等缺点,限制了其临床应用。因此,对天然抗菌肽的改造也成为目前抗菌肽的研究热点,本文还综述了天然抗菌肽的改造方法。     

天然抗菌肽的研究进展及应用前景

天然抗菌肽是生物体内经诱导产生的一种具有抗菌活性的小分子多肽,来源广泛。目前已从多种物种中分离纯化出千余种抗菌肽,其分子量大约在3～6kD之间,由20～60个氨基酸残基组成。天然抗菌肽具有多种生物活性,如抗细菌、抗真菌、抗病毒和抗癌细胞等作用。综述了天然抗菌肽的分类、生物活性及其作用机理和应用前景。     

蜘蛛抗菌肽研究进展

蜘蛛活性多肽研究主要集中于蜘蛛毒液中作用于离子通道的神经毒素多肽。但近年来,一些蜘蛛抗菌肽不断被分离纯化,其结构和抗菌活性也被广泛深入研究,这将成为蜘蛛活性多肽研究领域的一个新热点。在蜘蛛毒液和血液中,存在不同种类的抗菌肽,其多肽长度、结构、抗菌作用各不相同。而且,有些抗菌肽甚至具有抗肿瘤作用。概述了蜘蛛抗菌肽在结构和功能方面的研究进展。     

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。     

β-防御素130在大肠杆菌中的串联表达、纯化及生物活性分析

为了研究抗菌肽β-防御素130的生物学活性和实现大规模制备,通过改良其分子结构,构建表达载体pET28a-3×β-defensin130,利用大肠杆菌BL21 (DE3)作为宿主细胞诱导表达后为水溶性蛋白。对纯化后抗菌肽进行抑菌实验、稳定性实验、MTT实验和溶血性实验确定其生物活性。最终成功制备出25 kDa的重组蛋白,对金黄色葡萄球菌(ATCC25923)(45μg/mL)和单增李斯特菌(ATCC221633)(80μg/mL)等革兰氏阴性和阳性菌都表现出极强的抗菌活性,且其抗菌活性不受温度、pH值和蛋白酶消化等影响,MTT细胞毒性实验显示其对HEK293细胞无毒性且对兔源红细胞具有极低的溶血性。这将为新型抗菌肽的开发提供理论基础并推动抗生素替代产业快速发展。     

新疆家蚕抗菌肽基因突变及其抗菌活性的研究

为了改变抗菌肽的结构参数,探讨其结构与活性的关系,采用PCR扩增和人工合成基因的方法,对新疆家蚕抗菌肽基因进行改造及原核表达蛋白的抑菌活性研究.结果表明,α-螺旋、两亲性、疏水性、净正电荷数和关键氨基酸的替换等参数是相互依赖、相互影响,协同发挥作用,任何一个参数的改变都会影响抗菌肽整体的活性.α-螺旋是抗菌肽功能有效性的结构基础,但其所处的位置可能并不影响抗菌活性:两亲性结构是抗菌肽与生物膜相互作用的重要结构;疏水性程度必须保持在一定的范围内;在一定范围内增加多肽的阳离子能够增加抗菌活性,但正电荷数和抗菌活性之间无绝对正相关性;色氨酸的存在及抗菌肽的C-末端酰胺化能增强抗菌活性.     

Design and characterization of novel hybrid antimicrobial peptides based on cecropin A, LL-37 and magainin II

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are a naturally occurring component of the innate immune response of many organisms and can have activity against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacterial species. In order to optimize and improve the direct antimicrobial effect of AMPs against a broad spectrum of bacterial species, novel synthetic hybrids were rationally designed from cecropin A, LL-37 and magainin II. AMPs were selected based on their α-helical secondary structure and fragments of these were analyzed and combined in silico to determine which hybrid peptides would form the best amphipathic cationic α-helices. Four hybrid peptides were synthesized (CaLL, CaMA, LLaMA and MALL) and evaluated for direct antimicrobial activity against a range of bacterial species (Bacillus anthracis, Burkholderia cepacia, Francisella tularensis LVS and Yersinia pseudotuberculosis) alongside the original 'parent' AMPs. The hybrid peptides showed greater antimicrobial effects than the parent AMPs (in one case a parent is completely ineffective while a hybrid based on it removes all traces of bacteria by 3h), although they also demonstrated higher hemolytic properties. Modifications were then carried out to the most toxic hybrid AMP (CaLL) to further improve the therapeutic index. Modifications made to the hybrid lowered hemolytic activity and also lowered antimicrobial activity by various degrees. Overall, this work highlights the potential for rational design and synthesis of improved AMPs that have the capability to be used therapeutically for treatment of bacterial infections.     

Structure-activity relation of human beta-defensin 3: influence of disulfide bonds and cysteine substitution on antimicrobial activity and cytotoxicity

Human beta-defensins form a group of cysteine-rich antimicrobial peptides which have been found in epithelial tissue and, more recently, in the male genital tract. They play a role in the defense against microbial pathogens in innate immunity and display additional chemotactic functions in the adaptive immune system. An important characteristic of antimicrobial peptides is that they also exhibit toxic potential on eukaryotic cells. Very little is known about the structure dependence of antimicrobial and cytotoxic effects. We investigated human beta-defensin 3 (hBD-3), a potent broad-spectrum antimicrobial effector peptide, regarding the influence of structural parameters on the antimicrobial and cytotoxic activity. We have established a structure-activity relation of the hBD-3 using synthetic derivatives differing in length, charge, disulfide connectivity, and overall hydrophobicity. The antimicrobial activity of the peptides was compared to the cyctotoxic effects on monocytic THP-1 cells and the hemolytic activity on human erythrocytes. We found that it is not important for antimicrobial and cytotoxic activity whether and how cysteine residues are arranged to form disulfide bonds. Substitution of half-cystinyl residues by tryptophan resulted in increased activities, while other substitutions did not change activity. Correlation of activities with the structural changes demonstrates that the activity on eukaryotic cells appears to depend strongly on the overall hydrophobicity. In contrast, the antimicrobial potency of hBD-3 peptides is determined by the distribution of positively charged amino acid residues and hydrophobic side chains. The results facilitate the understanding of beta-defensin interaction with different cell types and guide the design of antimicrobially active peptides.     

Dissociation of antimicrobial and hemolytic activities in cyclic peptide diastereomers by systematic alterations in amphipathicity

We have investigated the role of amphipathicity in a homologous series of head-to-tail cyclic antimicrobial peptides in efforts to delineate features resulting in high antimicrobial activity coupled with low hemolytic activity (i.e. a high therapeutic index). The peptide GS14, cyclo(VKLKVd-YPLKVKLd-YP), designed on the basis of gramicidin S (GS), exists in a preformed highly amphipathic beta-sheet conformation and was used as the base compound for this study. Fourteen diastereomers of GS14 were synthesized; each contained a different single enantiomeric substitution within the framework of GS14. The beta-sheet structure of all GS14 diastereomers was disrupted as determined by CD and NMR spectroscopy under aqueous conditions; however, all diastereomers exhibited differential structure inducibility in hydrophobic environments. Because the diastereomers all have the same composition, sequence, and intrinsic hydrophobicity, the amphipathicity of the diastereomers could be ranked based upon retention time from reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography. There was a clear correlation showing that high amphipathicity resulted in high hemolytic activity and low antimicrobial activity in the diastereomers. The latter may be the result of increased affinity of highly amphipathic peptides to outer membrane components of Gram-negative microorganisms. The diastereomers possessing the most favorable therapeutic indices possessed some of the lowest amphipathicities, although there was a threshold value below which antimicrobial activity decreased. The best diastereomer exhibited 130-fold less hemolytic activity compared with GS14, as well as greatly increased antimicrobial activities, resulting in improvement in therapeutic indices of between 1,000- and 10,000-fold for a number of microorganisms. The therapeutic indices of this peptide were between 16- and 32-fold greater than GS for Gram-negative microorganisms and represents a significant improvement in specificity over GS. Our findings show that a highly amphipathic nature is not desirable in the design of constrained cyclic antimicrobial peptides and that an optimum amphipathicity can be defined by systematic enantiomeric substitutions.     

Synthesis and biological evaluation of novel 1,3,5-triazine derivatives as antimicrobial agents

Numerous studies have contributed to the development of natural and synthetic antimicrobial peptides as a prospective source of antibiotic agents. Based on the concept that cationic charge, bulk, and lipophilicity are major factors determining antibacterial activity in these peptides, we designed and screened several combinatorial libraries based on 1,3,5-triazine as a template. A set of compounds were identified to show potent antimicrobial activity together with low hemolytic activity.     

Investigating the cationic side chains of the antimicrobial peptide tritrpticin: hydrogen bonding properties govern its membrane-disruptive activities

The positively charged side chains of cationic antimicrobial peptides are generally thought to provide the initial long-range electrostatic attractive forces that guide them towards the negatively charged bacterial membranes. Peptide analogs were designed to examine the role of the four Arg side chains in the cathelicidin peptide tritrpticin (VRRFPWWWPFLRR). The analogs include several noncoded Arg and Lys derivatives that offer small variations in side chain length and methylation state. The peptides were tested for bactericidal and hemolytic activities, and their membrane insertion and permeabilization properties were characterized by leakage assays and fluorescence spectroscopy. A net charge of +5 for most of the analogs maintains their high antimicrobial activity and directs them towards preferential insertion into model bacterial membrane systems with a similar extent of burial of the Trp side chains. However the peptides exhibit significant functional differences. Analogs with methylated cationic side chains cause lower levels of membrane leakage and are associated with lower hemolytic activities, making them potentially attractive pharmaceutical candidates. Analogs containing the Arg guanidinium groups cause more membrane disruption than those containing the Lys amino groups. Peptides in the latter group with shorter side chains have increased membrane activity and conversely, elongating the Arg residue causes slightly higher membrane activity. Altogether, the potential for strong hydrogen bonding between the four positive Arg side chains with the phospholipid head groups seems to be a determinant for the membrane disruptive properties of tritrpticin and many related cationic antimicrobial peptides.     

Two novel families of antimicrobial peptides from skin secretions of the Chinese torrent frog, Amolops jingdongensis

The characterization of new natural antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) can help to solve the serious problem of bacterial resistance to currently used antibiotics. In the current study, we analyzed two families of AMPs from the Chinese torrent frog Amolops jingdongensis with a range of bioactivities. The first family of peptides, named jindongenin-1a, is 24 amino acids in length; a BLAST search of jindongenin-1a revealed no sequence similarity with other AMPs. The second family consists of two peptides containing 29 amino acid residues each. These peptides have high sequence similarity with the AMPs of palustrin-2 and are therefore designated palustrin-2AJ1 and palustrin-2AJ2. The cDNA sequences encoding these AMPs have been cloned and the deduced protein sequence of each AMP has been determined by protein sequencing. Sequence and structural analysis showed that each precursor is composed of a putative signal peptide, an N-terminal spacer, a processing site and a disulfide-bridged heptapeptide segment at the C-terminus. We synthesized jindongenin-1a and palustrin-AJ1 to test their antimicrobial, hemolytic, antioxidative and cytotoxic activities. These two peptides showed broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity to standard and clinically isolated strains of bacteria. In addition, they exhibited weak hemolytic activity to human and rabbit erythrocytes under our experimental conditions. Moreover, these peptides also displayed cytotoxic activity against the K562 and HT29 mammalian cell lines and low anti-oxidant activity. These findings provide helpful insight that will be useful in the design of anti-infective peptide agents.     

De novo generation of short antimicrobial peptides with simple amino acid composition

As potential therapeutic agents, antimicrobial peptides with shorter length and simpler amino acid composition can be better candidates for clinical and commercial development. Here, we attempted de novo design of short (5- to 11-residue) antimicrobial peptides with three kinds of amino acids. Amphipathic helical properties were conferred by using leucines and lysines and two tryptophan residues were positioned at the critical amphipathic interface between the hydrophilic ending side and the hydrophobic starting side. According to this specified rule, 12 model peptides were generated and their helical propensity was confirmed by circular dichroism spectroscopy. Antimicrobial and hemolytic activities were compared with those of the known 12-residue peptide agent, omiganan, which is currently under therapeutic and commercial development. Antimicrobial activities against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, including a multi-drug resistant strain, were observed for certain 7- to 11-residue models. Among them, the most potent activity was found for a 9-residue peptide (L₅K₂W₂), although it also had severe hemolytic activity. Alternatively, an 11-residue peptide (L₄K₅W₂) with little hemolytic activity was potentially the most useful agent, as it showed higher antibacterial activity than omiganan. These results not only suggest useful candidates for novel antibiotic development, but also provide an efficient strategy to design such peptides.     

Relationship between the tertiary structures of mastoparan B and its analogs and their lytic activities studied by NMR spectroscopy.

Mastoparan B (MP-B), an antimicrobial cationic tetradecapeptide amide isolated from the venom of the hornet Vespa basalis, is an amphiphilic alpha-helical peptide. MP-B possesses a variety of biological activities, such as mast cells degradation histamine release, erythrocyte lysis and inhibition of the growth of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. In order to study the relationship between the structure and the biological activity of MP-B, we used four analogs by replacing amino acids with alanine. Tertiary structures of MP-B and its analogs in 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol (TFE)-containing aqueous solution have been determined by NMR spectroscopy and molecular modeling. The results indicate that [Ala4]MP-B and [Ala12]MP-B with higher hydrophobicity adopt a higher content of amphiphilic helical structures, and have better antimicrobial and hemolytic activities than MP-B. However, [Ala3]MP-B and [Ala9]MP-B with lower hydrophobicity have disordered structures. [Ala3]MP-B and [Ala9]MP-B have low antimicrobial activity and much less hemolytic activity relative to MP-B. It is likely that tryptophan residue in MP-B and appropriate hydrophobicity of MP-B to induce alpha-helical structure is essential for the antibacterial and hemolytic activity of MP-B. This study can aid understanding of the structure-activity relationship of MP-B and to design peptides to possess lytic activity.     

Antibiotic activity of reversed peptides of alpha-helical antimicrobial peptide,P18

P18 (KWKLFKKIPKFLHLAKKF-NH(2)), an a-helical antimicrobial peptide designed from cecropin Amagainin 2 hybrid, was known to have potent antimicrobial activity against bacteria as well as fungi without hemolytic activity. To find the peptides comparable or superior to the antimicrobial activity of P18, the two reversed peptides (Rev-1 and Rev-2) of P18 were designed and synthesized. These peptides were found to have similar antimicrobial activity against bacterial and fungal cells without hemolytic activity as compared with P18. Furthermore, a reversed peptide, Rev-2 was shown to have a two-fold higher activity in killing some bacterial cells than P18. Therefore, these results suggested that Rev-2 peptide seems to be an excellent candidate for developing novel peptide antibiotics.