Rpf蛋白：一种激活休眠状态放线菌的复苏促进因子

放线菌能产生多样性丰富的小分子化合物,但大多数放线菌因为处于“活的尚未培养”状态而无法分离培养。造成“活的尚未培养”状态的原因之一可能是由于一些环境因素,例如有机物、重金属、抗生素等胁迫使细胞处于休眠保护状态,直到遇到适宜的条件才能继续复苏生长。复苏促进因子（Resuscitation-Promoting Factor,Rpf）是由某些放线菌分泌的一类蛋白质,首次在藤黄微球菌（Micrococcus luteus）中发现,之后人们对Rpf蛋白的功能和分布给予了更多的关注。Rpf蛋白能促进一些休眠的革兰氏阳性细菌复苏,这为“活的尚未培养”放线菌的分离培养提供了可能性。同时,针对一些致病放线菌物种,开发Rpf蛋白抑制物为相关疾病的治疗也提供了一条新的途径。基于此,本文对Rpf蛋白的结构组成、特征功能、作用机制及应用前景进行了简要的概述。

Rpf protein: a resuscitation-promoting factor for reactivating dormant actinomycetes

Actinomycetes can produce a rich diversity of small molecule compounds, but most of the actinomycetes have not been isolated and cultured because they are in a "viable but unculturable" state. One of the causes of "viable but unculturable" may be due to some environmental stresses, such as organic matter, heavy metal, antibiotics. These environmental factors make the cell form a dormant state, until they meet the suitable conditions for recovery growth. Resuscitation-promoting factor (Rpf) is a type of protein secreted by some actinomycetes. It was first discovered in Micrococcus luteus. Since then, more attention has been paid to the function and distribution of Rpf protein. Rpf protein can promote the recovery of some dormant Gram-positive bacteria and provide the possibility for "viable but unculturable" actinomycetes to be cultured in the laboratory. At the same time, the development of Rpf protein inhibitors for some pathogenic actinomycetes also provides a new way for the treatment of related diseases. Based on this premise, the structural composition, characteristics of the function, mechanism of action, and application prospect of Rpf protein were briefly reviewed.