Anti-Legionella dumoffii Activity of Galleria mellonella Defensin and Apolipophorin III

International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Marta Palusińska-Szysz³  Agnieszka Zdybicka-Barabas²  Bo៎na Pawlikowska-Pawlęga⁴  Pawel Mak¹ 

[1] Department of Analytical Biochemistry, Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 7 St., 30-387 Krakow, Poland; E-Mail:;Department of Immunobiology, Institute of Biology and Biochemistry, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, Akademicka 19 St., 20-033 Lublin, Poland; E-Mails:;Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Institute of Microbiology and Biotechnology, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, Akademicka 19 St., 20-033 Lublin, Poland;Department of Comparative Anatomy and Anthropology, Institute of Biology and Biochemistry, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, Akademicka 19 St., 20-033 Lublin, Poland; E-Mail:

关键词: phosphatidylcholine;    Legionella;    Galleria mellonella;    apolipophorin III;    Galleria defensin;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijms131217048

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

The gram-negative bacterium Legionella dumoffii is, beside Legionella pneumophila, an etiological agent of Legionnaires’ disease, an atypical form of pneumonia. The aim of this study was to determine the antimicrobial activity of Galleria mellonella defense polypeptides against L. dumoffii. The extract of immune hemolymph, containing a mixture of defense peptides and proteins, exhibited a dose-dependent bactericidal effect on L. dumoffii. The bacterium appeared sensitive to a main component of the hemolymph extract, apolipophorin III, as well as to a defense peptide, Galleria defensin, used at the concentrations 0.4 mg/mL and 40 μg/mL, respectively. L. dumoffii cells cultured in the presence of choline were more susceptible to both defense factors analyzed. A transmission electron microscopy study of bacterial cells demonstrated that Galleria defensin and apolipophorin III induced irreversible cell wall damage and strong intracellular alterations, i.e., increased vacuolization, cytoplasm condensation and the appearance of electron-white spaces in electron micrographs. Our findings suggest that insects, such as G. mellonella, with their great diversity of antimicrobial factors, can serve as a rich source of compounds for the testing of Legionella susceptibility to defense-related peptides and proteins.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2012 by the authors; licensee Molecular Diversity Preservation International, Basel, Switzerland.