昆虫抗菌肽研究和应用现状

昆虫在受到刺激或感染之后,在其血淋巴中会产生一种抗菌类物质,称抗菌肽。抗菌肽具有分子小、稳定性好、广谱抗菌、无毒副作用等特点,在农业、医药、食品等领域有广泛的应用前景。简要综述了昆虫抗菌肽的基础研究和应用现状。     

昆虫抗菌肽研究现状与展望

昆虫抗菌肽具有分子量小、热稳定性强、无免疫原性、生物活性广泛等特点,在医药、农业、食品工业等领域逐渐显示出广阔的应用前景,特别是在当前大量耐药性菌株的出现,而新抗生素发现又极其困难的情况下．昆虫抗菌肽的潜在药用价值倍受人们关注。本文将对昆虫抗菌肽的结构特征,抗菌机理．基因工程及其应用前景等知识作一简要介绍。     

昆虫抗菌肽结构与功能关系及其在分子设计中的应用

昆虫抗菌肽在自然分布广泛,结构多样,其作用机制尚未确切阐明,但其结构上的某些共同特征与其功能密切相关,同时,对其结构与功能间关系的研究有利于设计合成新的抗菌肽,为以后发现活性更强,毒性更低且作用广谱的抗菌素奠定基础。     

昆虫抗菌肽结构、性质和基因调控

昆虫抗菌肽是昆虫先天免疫系统中非常重要的一类效应分子。昆虫抗菌肽带正电荷,分子量小,大多数少于100个氨基酸残基。根据结构可以将昆虫抗菌肽分为一些不同的家族。昆虫抗菌肽不同的抗菌谱表明,它具有不同的作用机制。以果蝇为模式生物研究表明,昆虫抗菌肽的基因调控涉及到多个信号通路及大量的信号分子。     

昆虫抗菌肽和抗真菌肽结构与功能的关系及分子设计

在对GenBank和EMBL数据库中登录的昆虫抗微生物肽 (antimicrobial peptide, AMP), 即昆虫抗菌肽 (antibacterial peptide) 和抗真菌肽 (antifungal peptide, AFP) 进行归类整理的基础上,对天蚕素族(cecropins )抗菌肽结构与功能的关系及人工改造的分子设计策略,特别是对目前新发现的一些昆虫抗真菌肽的已知结构与功能关系的研究进展、存在问题等进行了简要介绍和分析,为从事昆虫抗微生物肽的理论研究和发展新型抗生素药物提供了必要的信息。     

昆虫受精囊的结构与功能

昆虫受精囊是在雌雄交配之后,作为雌性贮存、释放精子和使卵受精的器官,其结构、功能及活动调节对保持精子活性和卵子受精有重要的影响。该文对昆虫受精囊结构、功能及其活动调节的研究进展做一介绍,以期为相关研究提供有益的资料。     

昆虫类免疫球蛋白结构和功能研究进展

类免疫球蛋白是在无脊椎动物体内发现的唯一的免疫球蛋白家族成员,它对鳞翅目昆虫自身的免疫起着重要的作用。已有研究表明：类免疫球蛋白只存在于鳞翅目昆虫体内,有可溶性和不溶性两种存在方式,在昆虫体内分别具有不同的功能。可溶性类免疫球蛋白通过一些酶和蛋白的作用对入侵昆虫的细菌和病毒进行免疫防御,而不溶性类免疫球蛋白（即以膜结合蛋白的形式出现）对细胞和细胞黏着以及病毒和细菌入侵细胞有着延缓作用。     

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。     

昆虫抗菌肽的功能、作用机理与分子生物学研究最新进展

昆虫虽然没有完善的免疫防御体系,但却具有高效的无细胞免疫系统。抗菌肽是昆虫免疫后血淋巴中的一类抗菌多肽,它具有分子量小,热稳定,水溶性好,无免疫原性,抗菌谱广等特点。现在,它被认为是从细菌到高等哺乳动物普遍存在的一类防御性多肽,称之为“第二防御体系”。抗菌肽不仅抗菌谱广,而且可以抑杀某些真菌、病毒及原虫,并对多种癌细胞及动物实体瘤有明显的杀伤作用,而不破坏正常细胞。近年来,对昆虫抗菌物质的研究,特别是对昆虫抗菌肽的研究已成为一个迅速发展的新领域,越来越引起人们的关注和重视。抗菌肽可望成为新一代的抗菌、抗病毒、抗癌药物。但天然抗菌肽的来源少,成本高,无法满足临床试用和基础研究的需要。因此通过 Ｄ Ｎ Ａ 重组技术来获得大量抗菌肽,成为人们普遍关注的焦点。同时,对抗菌肽抗菌、抗肿瘤机理的深入研究也越来越具有重大的理论意义和实际应用价值,前景十分广阔     

Alpha-helical cationic antimicrobial peptides: relationships of structure and function

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), with their extraordinary properties, such as broad-spectrum activity, rapid action and difficult development of resistance, have become promising molecules as new antibiotics. Despite their various mechanisms of action, the interaction of AMPs with the bacterial cell membrane is the key step for their mode of action. Moreover, it is generally accepted that the membrane is the primary target of most AMPs, and the interaction between AMPs and eukaryotic cell membranes (causing toxicity to host cells) limits their clinical application. Therefore, researchers are engaged in reforming or de novo designing AMPs as a ‘single-edged sword’ that contains high antimicrobial activity yet low cytotoxicity against eukaryotic cells. To improve the antimicrobial activity of AMPs, the relationship between the structure and function of AMPs has been rigorously pursued. In this review, we focus on the current knowledge of α-helical cationic antimicrobial peptides, one of the most common types of AMPs in nature.     

Amphiphilic alpha-helical antimicrobial peptides and their structure/function relationships

To facilitate microbial membrane invasion, amphiphilic alpha-helical antimicrobial peptides (alpha-AMPs) show a spatial segregation of hydrophobic and hydrophilic residues about the alpha-helical long axis. Here we discuss potential mechanisms by which these peptides are able to disrupt membrane structure and the structural characteristics, which are required for function.     

抗菌肽及其功能研究

抗菌肽是近年来发现的广泛存在于自然界的一类阳离子抗菌活性肽,越来越多的证据表明它们在宿主先天性免疫和适应性免疫中有着重要的作用。对抗菌肽的研究正不断深入。本文先从抗菌肽研究的历史背景出发,简要介绍了抗菌肽的一般特性;然后从抗菌肽的直接抗菌活性和免疫调节功能这两个方面重点阐述其在宿主防御过程中的作用,最后对抗菌肽的临床应用及前景做了一个概述。     

Impact of single-residue mutations on the structure and function of ovispirin/novispirin antimicrobial peptides

We studied three model antibacterial peptides that resembled the N-terminal 18 amino acids of SMAP-29, an alpha-helical, antimicrobial peptide of sheep. Although the parent compound, ovispirin-1 (KNLRR IIRKI IHIIK KYG), was potently antimicrobial, it was also highly cytotoxic to human epithelial cells and hemolytic for human erythrocytes. Single residue substitutions to ovispirin-1 yielded two substantially less cytotoxic peptides (novispirins), with intact antimicrobial properties. One of these, novispirin G-10, differed from ovispirin-1 only by containing glycine at position 10, instead of isoleucine. The other, novispirin T-7, contained threonine instead of isoleucine at position 7. We determined the three-dimensional solution structures of all three peptides by circular dichroism spectroscopy and two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Although all retained an amphipathic helical structure in 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol, they manifested subtle fine-structural changes that evidently impacted their activities greatly. These findings show that simple structural modifications can 'fine-tune' an antimicrobial peptide to minimize unwanted cytotoxicity while retaining its desired activity.     

Studies on anticancer activities of antimicrobial peptides

In spite of great advances in cancer therapy, there is considerable current interest in developing anticancer agents with a new mode of action because of the development of resistance by cancer cells towards current anticancer drugs. A growing number of studies have shown that some of the cationic antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), which are toxic to bacteria but not to normal mammalian cells, exhibit a broad spectrum of cytotoxic activity against cancer cells. Such studies have considerably enhanced the significance of AMPs, both synthetic and from natural sources, which have been of importance both for an increased understanding of the immune system and for their potential as clinical antibiotics. The electrostatic attraction between the negatively charged components of bacterial and cancer cells and the positively charged AMPs is believed to play a major role in the strong binding and selective disruption of bacterial and cancer cell membranes, respectively. However, it is unclear why some host defense peptides are able to kill cancer cells when others do not. In addition, it is not clear whether the molecular mechanism(s) underlying the antibacterial and anticancer activities of AMPs are the same or different. In this article, we review various studies on different AMPs that exhibit cytotoxic activity against cancer cells. The suitability of cancer cell-targeting AMPs as cancer therapeutics is also discussed.     

Studies on anticancer activities of antimicrobial peptides

In spite of great advances in cancer therapy, there is considerable current interest in developing anticancer agents with a new mode of action because of the development of resistance by cancer cells towards current anticancer drugs. A growing number of studies have shown that some of the cationic antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), which are toxic to bacteria but not to normal mammalian cells, exhibit a broad spectrum of cytotoxic activity against cancer cells. Such studies have considerably enhanced the significance of AMPs, both synthetic and from natural sources, which have been of importance both for an increased understanding of the immune system and for their potential as clinical antibiotics. The electrostatic attraction between the negatively charged components of bacterial and cancer cells and the positively charged AMPs is believed to play a major role in the strong binding and selective disruption of bacterial and cancer cell membranes, respectively. However, it is unclear why some host defense peptides are able to kill cancer cells when others do not. In addition, it is not clear whether the molecular mechanism(s) underlying the antibacterial and anticancer activities of AMPs are the same or different. In this article, we review various studies on different AMPs that exhibit cytotoxic activity against cancer cells. The suitability of cancer cell-targeting AMPs as cancer therapeutics is also discussed.     

昆虫抗菌肽分类及在医学中应用

昆虫是地球上种类最为繁多的生物,其抗菌肽的种类和应用范围也远多于其他生物产生的抗菌肽。随着越来越多昆虫抗菌肽的发现及对其深入的研究,昆虫抗菌肽的结构和作用机制也被逐一阐明,并广泛应用于畜牧、食品工业及医药等领域。然而,由于某些限制因素,昆虫抗菌肽还未应用于临床。为了加快昆虫抗菌肽在临床中的应用,本文将从昆虫抗菌肽的结构分类、潜在的医学应用以及昆虫抗菌肽的生产研究现状等方面作一综述,以期为昆虫抗菌肽在抗细菌、抗病毒、抗肿瘤及抗寄生虫药物等方面的医用研发提供文献支持。     

In vitro and in vivo activity of antimicrobial peptides synthesized based on the insect defensin

Synthetic antimicrobial 9-mer peptides were designed from the amino acid sequence of an active site of insect defensin to increase the number of positively charged amino acid residues. These peptides, RLRLRIGRR-NH2, RLLLRIGRR-NH2 and RLYLRIGRR-NH2, showed strong antimicrobial activity against bacteria and fungus. These peptides showed no growth inhibition activity against murine fibroblasts or macrophages and no hemolytic activity against rabbit erythrocytes in vitro. Furthermore, the administration of these peptides protected mice from a lethal methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) challenge. In addition, these peptides suppressed tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) gene expression and production induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or lipoteichoic acid (LTA) in murine macrophages.     

Ribosomally synthesized peptides with antimicrobial properties: biosynthesis, structure, function, and applications

Ribosomally synthesized peptides with antimicrobial properties (antimicrobial peptides-AMPs) are produced by eukaryotes and prokaryotes and represent crucial components of their defense systems against microorganisms. Although they differ in structure, they are nearly all cationic and very often amphiphilic, which reflects the fact that many of them attack their target cells by permeabilizing the cell membrane. They can be roughly categorized into those that have a high content of a certain amino acid, most often proline, those that contain intramolecular disulfide bridges, and those with an amphiphilic region in their molecule if they assume an alpha-helical structure. Most of the known ribosomally synthesized peptides with antimicrobial functions have been identified and studied during the last 20 years. As a result of these studies, new knowledge has been acquired into biology and biochemistry. It has become evident that these peptides may be developed into useful antimicrobial additives and drugs. The use of two-peptide antimicrobial peptides as replacement for clinical antibiotics is promising, though their applications in preservation of foods (safe and effective for use in meat, vegetables, and dairy products), in veterinary medicine, and in dentistry are more immediate. This review focuses on the current status of some of the main types of ribosomally synthesized AMPs produced by eucaryotes and procaryotes and discusses the novel antimicrobial functions, new developments, e.g. heterologous production of bacteriocins by lactic acid bacteria, or construction of multibacteriocinogenic strains, novel applications related to these peptides, and future research paradigms.