• BMB Reports
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.362-368
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• 2010

Dermcidin is a human antibiotic peptide that is secreted by the sweat glands and has no homology to other known antimicrobial peptides. As an initial step toward understanding dermcidin's mode of action at bacterial membranes, we used homonuclear and heteronuclear NMR to determine the conformation of the peptide in 50% trifluoroethanol solution. We found that dermcidin adopts a flexible amphipathic $\alpha$-helical structure with a helix-hinge-helix motif, which is a common molecular fold among antimicrobial peptides. Spin-down assays of dermcidin and several related peptides revealed that the affinity with which dermcidin binds to bacterial-mimetic membranes is primarily dependent on its amphipathic $\alpha$-helical structure and its length (>30 residues); its negative net charge and acidic pI have little effect on binding. These findings suggest that the mode of action of dermcidin is similar to that of other membrane-targeting antimicrobial peptides, though the details of its antimicrobial action remain to be determined.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.61-67
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• 2009

This study carried out development of a natural antimicrobial agent from Schima wallichii ssp. liukiuensis. Compound I exhibiting potent antimicrobial activity against Candida spp. was isolated from the methanol extracts of Schima wallichii ssp. liukiuensis. The structure of I identified as a sterol glycoside consisted of a trisaccharide and ${\alpha}_1$-sitosterol. Trisaccharide composed of L-rhamnose, D-galactose and D-glucose residues. The antimicrobial activity of I was selective on yeast rather than bacteria or other fungi. Compound I was demonstrated to be ineffective against toxicity to mouse liver cells where as protective to human dermal fibroblast cells at low concentrations. Thus, it is reasonable to expect a sterol glycoside (I) as a valuable alternative for synthetic antifungal.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.25-32
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• 2021

Inflammatory reactions activated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of gram-negative bacteria can lead to severe septic shock. With the recent emergence of multidrug-resistant gram-negative bacteria and a lack of efficient ways to treat resulting infections, there is a need to develop novel anti-endotoxin agents. Antimicrobial peptides have been noticed as potential therapeutic molecules for bacterial infection and as candidates for new antibiotic drugs. We previously designed the 9-meric antimicrobial peptide Pro9-3 and it showed high antimicrobial activity against gram-negative bacteria. Here, to further examine its potency as an anti-endotoxin agent, we examined the anti-endotoxin activities of Pro9-3 and elucidated its mechanism of action. We performed a dye-leakage experiment and BODIPY-TR cadaverine and limulus amebocyte lysate assays for Pro9-3 as well as its lysine-substituted analogue and their enantiomers. The results confirmed that Pro9-3 targets the bacterial membrane and the arginine residues play key roles in its antimicrobial activity. Pro9-3 showed excellent LPS-neutralizing activity and LPS-binding properties, which were superior to those of other peptides. Saturation transfer difference-nuclear magnetic resonance experiments to explore the interaction between LPS and Pro9-3 revealed that Trp3 and Tlr7 in Pro9-3 are critical for attracting Pro9-3 to the LPS in the gram-negative bacterial membrane. Moreover, the anti-septic effect of Pro9-3 in vivo was investigated using an LPS-induced endotoxemia mouse model, demonstrating its dual activities: antibacterial activity against gram-negative bacteria and immunosuppressive effect preventing LPS-induced endotoxemia. Collectively, these results confirmed the therapeutic potential of Pro9-3 against infection of gram-negative bacteria.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.671-678
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• 2018

Papiliocin, isolated from the swallowtail butterfly (Papilio xuthus), is an antimicrobial peptide with high selectivity against gram-negative bacteria. We previously showed that the N-terminal helix of papiliocin (PapN) plays a key role in the antibacterial and anti-inflammatory activity of papiliocin. In this study, we measured the selectivity of PapN against multidrug-resistant gram-negative bacteria, as well as its anti-inflammatory activity. Interactions between Trp2 of PapN and lipopolysaccharide (LPS), which is a major component of the outer membrane of gram-negative bacteria, were studied using the Trp fluorescence blue shift and quenching in LPS micelles. Furthermore, using circular dichroism, we investigated the interactions between PapN and LPS, showing that LPS plays critical roles in peptide folding. Our results demonstrated that Trp2 in PapN was buried deep in the negatively charged LPS, and Trp2 induced the ${\alpha}$-helical structure of PapN. Importantly, docking studies determined that predominant electrostatic interactions of positively charged arginine residues in PapN with phosphate head groups of LPS were key factors for binding. Similarly, hydrophobic interactions by aromatic residues of PapN with fatty acid chains in LPS were also significant for binding. These results may facilitate the development of peptide antibiotics with anti-inflammatory activity.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.55-63
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• 1993

A simultaneous determination method by HPLC for egg-residues sulfamerazine, sulfamethazine, sulfadimethoxine, furazolidone and zoalene was assesed. The drugs were extracted by dechloromethane, The extract after solvent evaporation, is partitioning in hex ane/water and back-partitioning in dechloromethane and analysis by HPLC. The average recovery rates of the above microbials from the egg spiked standard solution were approximately 81.2%, 87.6%, 92.5%. 86.1% and 79.3% respectively. The limit of detection of sulfamerazine. sulfamethazine and sulfamethoxine were in the levels of 0.2ppb, furazolidone and zoalene 0.5ppb respectively. According to this method 84 commercial eggs were examined. Sulfamethanzine was detected at levels of 0.005-0.008ppm in 3 eggs. Sulfadimethoxine was detected at levels of 0.012-0.019ppm in 4 eggs. No sulfamerazine, furazolidone and zoalene was detected in every samples. The residues of antimicrobial agent were safety level as food generally.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.600-627
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• 2016

Korea is one of the countries with a large veterinary antibiotics market, although antimicrobial resistance in bacteria is becoming a serious issue in many countries. The Korean government started to take interest in estimating the effects of livestock manure on rivers and agricultural soils and in monitoring of heavy metals, organic pollutants and antibiotics in the ambient water and soil. In this paper, pre-treatment methods to separate the selected antibiotics from solid samples were reviewed. It is essential to select an efficient and appropriate procedure for pre-treatment due to the high proportion of proteins and organics in biosolid samples. Pre-treatment consists of extraction followed by clean-up. Initially, homogenized samples were extracted by sonication, mechanical agitation or pressurized liquid extraction with methanol/acetonitrile/water mixture under acidic/basic conditions depending on the compound. However, aminoglycosides and colistin were extracted with 5% trichloroacetic acid and HCl, respectively. Since the ${\beta}-lactams$ are easily decomposed in acidic and basic conditions, they were extracted in neutral pH. Filtration with a membrane (pore size, $0.2{\mu}m$) or solid phase extraction with HLB and methanol, as eluents, was normally applied for the clean-up. At least, three different pre-treatment procedures should be adopted to screen all the selected antibiotics in solid samples.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.147-150
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• 2007

Abaecin is a largest member of the proline-rich anti-microbial peptide family found only in the hymenopterans. A cDNA of abaecin was previously isolated and cloned from Bombus ignitus: the mature peptide of Bombus ignitus abaecin was composed of 39 amino acid residues. In the present study, we determined the antibacterial effect of B. ignitus abaecin synthesized at several lengths against several bacteria by radial diffusion assay. The 37-mer peptide (Ab37) inhibited the growth of Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli ML-35, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Salmonela typhimurium, but showed limited inhibitory activity toward Gram-positive bacteria, except for Micrococcus luteus. The truncated 26-mer peptide (Ab26), which was synthesized after truncating some amino acid residues at both N-terminus and C-terminus from the Ab37 peptide, still showed equivalent antibacterial activity to the Ab37. On the other hand, several further truncated peptides exhibited lower activity then did Ab37 peptide.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.319-326
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• 2016

Colistin is a last resort antimicrobial agent against multi-drug resistant Gram-negative bacteria. This study was conducted to develop an analytical method to determine colistin in fish and shrimp. The analytes were confirmed and quantified via liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) in the positive ion mode using multiple reaction monitoring (MRM). The sample was extracted with acidified 5% methanol (containing 0.5% formic acid). Then, solid phase extraction (SPE) was used for cleanup. Matrix-matched calibration curves were linear over the calibration ranges (0.05-1.2 mg/kg) for all the analytes into blank sample with $r^2$ > 0.99. All the values fulfilled the criteria requested by the Codex guidelines. Average recoveries ranged from 85.9% to 107.9%. The repeatability of measurements, expressed as the coefficient of variation (CV, %), was less than 15%. The limit of detection (LOD) was 0.02 mg/kg, and the limit of quantitation (LOQ) was 0.05 mg/kg. This improved method showed higher accuracy and acceptable sensitivity to meet the CAC guideline requirements and is applicable for the analysis of residual colistin (A+B) in fish and shrimp.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.9
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• pp.2883-2889
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• 2012

LL-37 is the only antimicrobial peptide (AMP) of the human cathelicidin family. In addition to potent antimicrobial activity, LL-37 is known to have the potential to inhibit lipolysaccharide (LPS)-induced endotoxic effects. To provide the stability to proteolytic digestion and increase prokaryotic selectivity and/or anti-endotoxic activity of two Lys/Trp-substituted 19-meric antimicrobial peptides (a4-W1 and a4-W2) designed from IG-19 (residues 13-31 of LL-37), we synthesized the diastereomeric peptides (a4-W1-D and a4-W2-D) with D-amino acid substitution at positions 3, 7, 10, 13 and 17 of a4-W1 and a4-W2, respectively and the enantiomeric peptides (a4-W1-E and a4-W2-E) composed D-amino acids. The diastereomeric peptides exhibited the best prokaryotic selectivity and effective protease stability, but no or less anti-endotoxic activity. In contrast, the enantiomeric peptides had not only prokaryotic selectivity and anti-endotoxic activity but also protease stability. Our results suggest that the hydrophobicity and ${\alpha}$-helicity of the peptide is important for anti-endotoxic activity. In particular, the enantiomeric peptides showed potent anti-endotoxic and LPS-neutralizing activities comparable to that of LL-37. Taken together, both a4-W1-E and a4-W2-E holds promise as a template for the development of peptide antibiotics for the treatment of endotoxic shock and sepsis.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.9
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• pp.2818-2824
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• 2014

Trp residue is considered as one of the important constituents in antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) as it presence secured good activities in many cases. However, it is preferable to be changed because of their sensitivity towards light. We have synthesized the short Trp-rich AMP Pac-525 and its analogues to investigate the possibility of His(chx) as possible replacement analogue for Trp in AMPs. Based on the assay result of the antibacterial activity including anti-MRSA activity, His(chx) is considered as good candidate for the Trp replacement. Through these study, we found that His(chx) had several merits to design therapeutic antimicrobial agents compare to Trp in terms of i) increasing antibacterial activity without hemolytic activity, ii) successful in designing the short peptide (only four residues), iii) having anti-MRSA activity, iv) overcoming the light sensitivity. Furthermore, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and dye leakage experiments suggested that P11 and P16 containing His(chx) kill bacteria via forming pore/ion channels on bacterial cell membranes.