• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.49-51
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• 1997

In order to obtain a hybrid synthetic peptide with a more potent antifungal activity than magainin-2 but without hemolytic activity, four hybrid peptides were designed from the sequences of magainin 2 and cecropin A and their antifungal activities against Trichosporon beigelii were investigated. The result showed that analogue 2 and 4 exhibited better antifungal activity against T. beigelii than magainin-2 but no hemolytic activities. The peptides, therefore, could be used as models for the development of potent antifungal peptides.

• Korean Journal Plant Pathology
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.203-208
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• 1998

We isolated and characterized an antifungal peptide from the seeds of Phytolacca americana. Growth inhibition assay with Botrytis cinerea was used to screen inhibitory proteins from 60 different plant species. A 4 kDa antifungal peptide (Pa-AFP) inhibitory to hyphal growth of B. cinerea was found in the seeds of P. americana. The peptide Pa-AFP was purified to homogeneity by chromatographies of Sephadex G-50, DEAE-Sepharose, Sephacryl S-300, and C18 reverse-phase HPLC. Western blot analysis showed that a polyclonal antibody raised against the purified peptide cross-reacted with a 4 kDa protein in seeds but not in root and leaf tissues of P. americana. Pa-AFP inhibited the hyphal growth of Botrytis cinerea, Rihzoctonia solani, Fusarium oxysporum, and Magnaporthe grisea. Pa-AFP exhibited growth inhibition of Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain BWG7a, which was sensitive to osmotin.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.473-477
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• 2009

Previously, the 9-mer analog peptides, 9Pbw2 and 9Pbw4, were designed based on a defensin-like peptide, protaetiamycine isolated from Protaetia brevitarsis. In this study, antifungal effects of the analog peptides were investigated. The antifungal susceptibility testing exhibited that 9Pbw4 contained more potent antifungal activities than 9Pbw2. A PI influx assay confirmed the effects of the analog peptides and demonstrated that the peptides exerted their activity by a membrane-active mechanism, in an energy-independent manner. As the noteworthy potency of 9Pbw4, the mechanism(s) of 9Pbw4 were further investigated. The membrane studies, using rhodamine-labeled giant unilamellar vesicle (GUV) and fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-dextran loaded liposome, suggested that the membrane-active mechanism of 9Pbw4 could have originated from the pore-forming action and the radii of pores was presumed to be anywhere from 1.8 nm to 3.3 nm. These results were confirmed by 3D-flow cytometric contour-plot analysis. The present study suggests a potential of 9Pbw4 as a novel antifungal peptide.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.168-172
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• 1999

The antifungal mechanism of the antifungal peptide against Aspergillus fumigatus, $K^{18,19}$-CA(l-8)-ME(l-12), derived from cecropin A(l-8)-melittin(l-12) was investigated by confocal laser scanning microscopy, cell wall regeneration, ATPase activity inhibition, and released potassium ion. By confocal laser scanning microscopy, $K^{18,19}$-CA(l-8)-ME(l-12) was detected on the surface of A. fumigatus, while cecropin A used as a negative control peptide was not detected. The protoplast of A. fumigatus treated with$K^{18,19}$-CA(1-8)-ME(1-12) failed to regenerate the fungal cell walls. Compared with cecropin A, the amount of potassium ion released by $K^{18,19}$-CA(l-8)-ME(l-12) was increased. Furthermore, $K^{18,19}$-CA(l-8)-ME(l-12) inhibited the ATPase activity on the plasma membrane. These results suggested that $K^{18,19}$-CA(l-8)-ME(1-12) acts on the plasma membrane of A. fumigatus and its antifungal action is due to the ion channel or pore formation on the plasma membrane.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.95-99
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• 2004

Synthetic oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) containing unmethylated CpG dinucleotides in particular base contexts are known to induce immunity in vertebrate cells. In insect, however, it was recent to find out that ODNs induces insect immunity as other immune inducer such as lipopolysaccharide. However, the finding was solely based on one lepidopteran insect, Bombyx mori, and the expression of insect immunity was neither dependent on numbers of CpG repeats nor methylation of CpG repeats within ODNs. Instead, foreignness of DNA has been suggested to be a key factor governing induction of antibacterial peptide. In this study, we expanded our previous understanding to the potentiality of ODNs as an immune inducer for antifungal peptide in Galleria mellonella and B. mori. To do this, a defensin-type antifungal peptide gene, reported from G. mellonella was cloned and partially sequenced from G. mellonella and B. mori successfully and utilized as a probe in the Northern blot analysis. We found out that ODNs also work as an immune inducer for antifungal peptide in the fat body and midgut of G. mellonella and B. mori larvae. Also, induction pattern of antifungal peptide was irrelevant to the numbers of CpG repeats within ODNs as previously reported on the induction pattern of antibacterial peptides.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.276-281
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• 1999

In order to determine the functional region of the antifungal protein (AFP) isolated from Aspergillus giganteus responsible for growth inhibitory activity and the promotion of phospholipid vesicle aggregation, overlapping peptides covering the complete sequence of AFP were synthesized. The antibiotic activity against bacterial, fungal, and tumor cells, and the vesicle-aggregation activity of the synthetic peptides were investigated. The AFP functional sequence responsible for antibiotic and vesicle-aggregation activity was determined to be located within the region between AFP residues 19 to 32. AFP (19-32) exhibited an a-helical conformation in a cell membrane-like environment. AFP (19-32) displayed potent antibiotic activity against bacterial, fungal, and tumor cells without peptide toxicity as indicated by hemolysis. Accordingly, AFP (19-32) could be used as a good model for the design of effective antibiotic agents with powerful antibiotic activity yet without any cytotoxic effects against the host organism.

• BMB Reports
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.278-283
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• 2006

Defensins are small cysteine rich peptides with a molecular mass of 5-10 kDa and some of them exhibit potent antifungal activity. We have cloned the coding region of a cDNA of 225 bp cysteine rich defensin, named as Tfgd1, from the legume Trigonella foenum-graecum. The amino acid sequence deduced from the coding region comprised 74 amino acids, of which the N-terminal 27 amino acids constituted the signal peptide and the mature peptide comprised 47 amino acids. The protein is characterized by the presence of eight cysteine resisdues, conserved in the various plant defensins forming four disulphide bridges, which stabilize the mature peptide. The recombinant protein expressed in E coli exhibited antifungal activity against the broad host range fungus, Rhizoctonia solani and the peanut leaf spot fungus, Phaeoisariopsis personata.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.399-405
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• 1998

From the sequence alignment of various non-ribosomal peptide synthetases, several motifs of highly conserved sequences have been identified within each domain of peptide synthetases. We designed PCR primers based on the highly conserved nucleotide sequences to amplify and isolate a ∼7.2-kb DNA fragment of the Bacillus subtilis 713 which was isolated and reported to produce an antifungal peptide compound. Nucleotide sequence analysis of 4.8 kb of the predicted amino acids revealed significant homology to various peptide synthetases over the whole sequence and also revealed two amino acid-activating domains with highly conserved Core 1 to Core 6 and spacer motif. This suggests that the isolated DNA fragment is part of a peptide synthetase gene for antifungal peptide.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.529-533
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• 1996

Melittin (ME) from honeybee venom has a broad range of strong antimicrobial activity, but it has hemolytic activity against eukaryotic cells. In order to design peptides with powerful antifungal activity without cytotoxic property of ME and understand structure-antifungal activity relationships, the hybrid peptides derived from the sequences of ME and cecropin A (CA) or magainin 2 (MA), MA(10-17)ME(1-12) and CA(1-8)ME(1-12). were synthesized by solid phase method. MA(10-17)ME(1-12) showed potent antifungal activity comparable to ME against Fusarium oxysporum with no hemolytic activity against human red blood cells. The hybrid peptides showed strong inhibi- tion of (1, 3)-$\beta$-D-glucan synthase. This result indicates that the antifungal activity of the hybrid peptides against Fusarium oxysporum is attributed to the inhibition of cell wall synthesis. The results therefore showed a successful design of a peptide having antifungal activity without hemolytic property.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.595-600
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• 1998

In order to investigate a relationship of the structure-antifungal and hemolytic activities between cecropin A(1-8)-magainin 2(1-12) and cecropin A(1-8)-melittin(1-12) hybrid peptides, several analogues with amino acid substitution at positions 10 (Ile) and 16 (Ser) were designed and synthesized. The increase of the hydrophobicity by substituting with Leu, Phe, and Trp at position 16 in cecropin A(1-8)-magainin 2(1-12) did not have a significant effect on antifungal activity but caused a remarkable increase in hemolytic activity. These results indicate that the hydrophobic property at position 16 of cecropin A(1-8)-magainin 2(1-12) is more correlated to hemolytic activity than to antifungal activity. Replacement with Pro at position 10 of cecropin A(1-8)- magainin 2(1-12) and cecropin A(1-8)-melittin (1-12) caused a remarkable decrease in a-helical contents in the 50% TFE solution and induced a reduction in lytic activity against Aspergillus flavus, and Aspergillus fumigatus. These results demonstrate that flexibility at the central hinge region is essential for lytic activity against fungal cells and $\alpha$-helicity of the peptides.