Trematocine, a Novel Antimicrobial Peptide from the Antarctic Fish Trematomus bernacchii: Identification and Biological Activity

Antibiotics

Francesca Ceccacci¹  Giulia Della Pelle²  Martina Felli²  Fernando Porcelli²  Francesco Buonocore²  Giuseppe Scapigliati²  MariaCristina Belardinelli²  Silvia Crognale²  Giulia Perಠ Marco Gerdol³ 

[1] CNR—Institute for Biological Systems, Sede Secondaria di Roma-Meccanismi di Reazione, 00185 Rome, Italy;Department for Innovation in Biological, Agrofood and Forest Systems, University of Tuscia, 01100 Viterbo, Italy;Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Trieste 34128, Italy;

关键词: antimicrobial peptides;    model membranes;    fish immune system;    antarctica;   

DOI  :  10.3390/antibiotics9020066

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are short peptides active against a wide range of pathogens and, therefore, they are considered a useful alternative to conventional antibiotics. We have identified a new AMP in a transcriptome derived from the Antarctic fish Trematomus bernacchii. This peptide, named Trematocine, has been investigated for its expression both at the basal level and after in vivo immunization with an endemic Antarctic bacterium (Psychrobacter sp. TAD1). Results agree with the expected behavior of a fish innate immune component, therefore we decided to synthesize the putative mature sequence of Trematocine to determine the structure, the interaction with biological membranes, and the biological activity. We showed that Trematocine folds into a α-helical structure in the presence of both zwitterionic and anionic charged vesicles. We demonstrated that Trematocine has a highly specific interaction with anionic charged vesicles and that it can kill Gram-negative bacteria, possibly via a carpet like mechanism. Moreover, Trematocine showed minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) values against selected Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria similar to other AMPs isolated from Antarctic fishes. The peptide is a possible candidate for a new drug as it does not show any haemolytic or cytotoxic activity against mammalian cells at the concentration needed to kill the tested bacteria.

【 授权许可】

Unknown