• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.278-283
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• 2014

Cecropins (Cec) are antibacterial peptides and their expression is induced in a pig intestinal parasite Ascaris suum by bacterial infection. To explore the usefulness of its activity as an antibiotic, CecP4 cDNA was prepared and cloned into the pPICZ B expression vector and followed by the integration into AOX1 locus in Pichia pastoris. The supernatants from cell culture were collected after methanol induction and concentrated for the test of antimicrobial activity. The recombinant P. patoris having CecP4 showed antimicrobial activity when tested against Staphyllococcus aureus in disc diffusion assay. We selected one of the CecP4 clones (CecP4-2) and performed further studies with it. The growth of recombinant P. pastoris was optimized using various concentration of methanol, and it was found that 2% methanol in the culture induced more antibacterial activity, compared to 1% methanol. We extended the test of antimicrobial activity by applying the concentrated supernatant of CecP4 culture to Pseudomonas aeruginosa and E. coli respectively. Recombinant CecP4 also showed antimicrobial activity against both Pseudomona and E. coli, suggesting the broad spectrum of its antimicrobial activity. After improvements for the scale-up, it will be feasible to use recombinant CecP4 for supplementation to the feed to control microbial infections in young animals, such as piglets.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.483-489
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• 2002

We investigated the biochemical properties of insect defensin expressed and secreted from Saccharomyces corevisiae. The defensin showed extremely high resistance to boiling for up to 30 min and to pH values tested from 2.0 to 12.0. The treatment of defensin with various proteases abolished antibacterial activity. However, amylases, cellulase, lipase and catalase had no effect on the activity. The defensin was purified to homogeneity through ammonium sulfate concentration of culture supernatant, SP-Sepharose column chromatography and RP-HPLC. Tricin-SDS-PAGE analysis revealed that the molecular weight of the defensin was about 4.0 kDa. The antibacterial activity of the purified defensin was verified by renaturation of stained gel and gel pouring assay using Micrococcus luteus as a test organism.

• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.36-50
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• 2021

This study aimed to evaluate the biological potential of functional food, i.e., specific peptides obtained from the hydrolysis of milk protein, by assessing their antioxidant and antibacterial properties. For the preparation of casein hydrolysates, commercial enzymes were added to 10% casein solution in a 1:200 (w/v) ratio, and samples were collected each hour. Based on the assessment of the degree of hydrolysis (DH) of casein hydrolysates, it was observed that the concentration of all enzymatic hydrolysates increased rapidly from 30 to 40 minutes. However, no change was observed in their concentrations after 150 minutes. Protamex® and Neutrase® exhibited the highest DH when compared to other enzymes. Furthermore, SDS-PAGE was performed for analyzing the proteolytic pattern of each enzyme, except for Flavourzyme®, and peptides in the size range of 20-25 kDa were identified. Subsequently, peptides produced by two enzymes were isolated using a preparative liquid chromatography system. Overall, NF3, NF4, PF5, and PF6 showed higher antioxidant potential than other peptide fractions. Moreover, NF7 and PF3 exhibited the highest antibacterial activity. In this study, we evaluated the biological potential of novel casein-derived peptides that may find application in the food and healthcare industry.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.389-395
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• 2021

Soil is the major source of plant-associated microbes. Several fungal and bacterial species live within plant tissues. Actinomycetes are well known for producing a variety of antibiotics, and they contribute to improving plant health. In our previous report, Streptomyces globisporus SP6C4 colonized plant tissues and was able to move to other tissues from the initially colonized ones. This strain has excellent antifungal and antibacterial activities and provides a suppressive effect upon various plant diseases. Here, we report the genome-wide analysis of antibiotic producing genes in S. globisporus SP6C4. A total of 15 secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters were predicted using antiSMASH. We used the CRISPR/Cas9 mutagenesis system, and each biosynthetic gene was predicted via protein basic local alignment search tool (BLAST) and rapid annotation using subsystems technology (RAST) server. Three gene clusters were shown to exhibit antifungal or antibacterial activity, viz. cluster 16 (lasso peptide), cluster 17 (thiopeptide-lantipeptide), and cluster 20 (lantipeptide). The results of the current study showed that SP6C4 has a variety of antimicrobial activities, and this strain is beneficial in agriculture.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetic Resonance Society
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2011

9Pbw2 is a 9-mer analog of protaetiamycine derived from the larvae of the beetle Protaetia brevitarsis. Previously, we designed four 9-mer peptide analogues to optimize the balance between the hydrophobicity and cationicity of the peptides and to increase bacterial cell selectivity. Among them, 9Pbw2 has high antibacterial activity without cytotoxicity. The results obtained in previous study suggest that the bactericidal action of 9Pbw2 may be attributed to the inhibition of the functions of intracellular components after penetration of the bacterial cell membrane. In order to understand structure-activity relationships, we determined the three-dimensional structure of 9Pbw2 in 200 mM DPC micelle by NMR spectroscopy. 9Pbw2 has one hydrophobic turn helix from $Trp^3$ to $Arg^8$ and positively charged residues at the N- and C-terminus. This result suggested that positively charged residues from position at the C-terminus in 9Pbw2 may be important for the primary binding to the negatively charged phospholipid head groups in bacterial cell membranes and hydrophobic residues in the middle portion face toward the acyl chains of the hydrophobic lipid in the bacterial cell membrane.

• BMB Reports
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.85-90
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• 2012

Our previous study demonstrated that CopA3, a disulfide dimer of the coprisin peptide analogue (LLCIALRKK), has antibacterial activity. In this study, we assessed whether CopA3 caused cellular toxicity in various mammalian cell lines. CopA3 selectively caused a marked decrease in cell viability in Jurkat T, U937, and AML-2 cells (human leukemia cells), but was not cytotoxic to Caki or Hela cells. Fragmentation of DNA, a marker of apoptosis, was also confirmed in the leukemia cell lines, but not in the other cells. CopA3-induced apoptosis in leukemia cells was mediated by apoptosis inducing factor (AIF), indicating induction of a caspase-independent signaling pathway.

• BMB Reports
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.1090-1094
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• 2007

Melittin (ME), a linear 26-residue non-cell-selective antimicrobial peptide, displays strong lytic activity against bacterial and human red blood cells. To design ME analogue with improved cell selectivity, we synthesized a melittin diastereomer (ME-D) with D-amino acid in the leucine zipper sequence (Leu-6, Lue-13 and Ile-20). Compared to ME, ME-D exhibited the same or 2-fold higher antibacterial activity but 8-fold less hemolytic activity. Circular dichroism analysis revealed that ME-D has much less $\alpha$-helical content in $\alpha$-helical content in the presence of zwitterionic EYPC/cholesterol (10 : 1, w/w) liposomes compared to negatively charged EYPE/EYPG (7 : 3, w/w) liposomes. The blue shift of the fluorescence emission maximum of ME-D in zwitterionic EYPC/cholesterol (10 : 1, w/w) liposomes was much smaller than in negatively charged EYPE/EYPG (7 : 3, w/w) liposomes. These results suggested that the improvement in therapeutic index/cell selectivity of ME-D is correlated with its less permeability to zwitterionic membranes.

• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.64-68
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• 2002

The antibacterial protein gene, nuecin was expressed in Sf9 cells using baculovirus expression vector system (BEVS). The antibactetial activity of mature nuecin against Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum, Ralstonia solanacearum and Pseudomonas tolaasii was significantly high, demonstrating that nuecin had a wider antibacterial spectrum on gram negative and positive bacteria. The result appears to be superior to other antibacterial peptide, attacin. The nuecin was purified by SP-sepharose and Mono Q HR ion-exchange chromatography, and then by Superdex 200 HR 10/30 column. The purified nuecin is quite stable at 80$\^{C}$ and 100$\^{C}$ for several hours of incubation and in a wide pH range (pH 2-12).

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.95-99
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• 2018

In insect defense system, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are one of important biological molecules to survive in a variety of environments. Insect can synthesize AMPs to protect against invading pathogens in humoral immune response. Taking more advantage of biological antimicrobial molecules, we report antibacterial activity of two cecropin type peptides, cecropin and moricin, isolated from the silkworm against four salmonella species. In this work, we purified antimicrobial candidate peptides (AMCP) from the extracts of immune challenged silkworm larval hemolymph by two-step chromatographic purification procedure, cation exchange and gel permeation chromatography. The molecular weights of purified peptides were estimated to be about 4 ~ 5 kDa by Tricin SDS-PAGE analysis, and identified as silkworm cecropin and moricin by NCBI BLAST homology search with their N-terminal amino acid sequences. As antibacterial activity assay, the purified peptides showed stronger antibacterial activity against Salmonella pathogens with an MIC value of $1{\sim}4{\mu}g/mL$. Therefore two cecropin type peptides purified from the silkworm will be valuable potential materials for development of new natural antibiotics.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.1054-1059
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• 2005

An extracellular protease was identified from Bacillus subtilis KCCM 10257 by N-terminal sequencing and mass spectral analysis. The molecular mass of the extracellular protease was estimated to be 28 kDa by SDS-PAGE. Sequencing of the N-terminal of the protease revealed the sequence of A(G,S,R)QXVPYG(A)V(P,L)SQ. The N-terminal sequence exhibited close similarity to the sequence of other proteases from Bacillus sp. A mass list of the monoisotopic peaks in the MALDI-TOF spectrum was searched after peptide fragmentation of the protease. Six peptide sequences exhibiting monoisotopic masses of 1,276.61, 1,513.67, 1,652.81, 1,661.83, 1,252.61, and 1,033.46 were observed from the fragmented protease. These monisotopic masses corresponded to the lytic enzyme L27 from Bacillus subtilis 168, and the Mowse score was found to be 75. A doubly charged Top product (MS) at a m/z of 517.3 exhibiting a molecular mass of 1034.6 was further analyzed by de novo sequencing using a PE Sciex QSTAR Hybrid Quadropole-TOF (MS/MS) mass spectrometer. MS/MS spectra of the Top product (MS) at a m/z of 517.3 obtained from the fragmented peptide mixture of protease with Q-star contained the b-ion series of 114.2, 171.2, 286.2, 357.2, 504.2, 667.4, 830.1, and 887.1 and y-ion series of 147.5, 204.2, 367.2, 530.3, 677.4, 748.4, 863.4, and 920.5. The sequence of analyzed peptide ion was identified as LGDAFYYG from the b- and y-ion series by de novo sequencing and corresponded to the results from the MALDI-TOF spectrum. From these results the extracellular protease from Bacillus subtilis KCCM 10257 was successfully identified with the lytic enzyme L27 from Bacillus subtilis 168.