A NOVEL FAMILY OF SMALL CYSTEINE-RICH ANTIMICROBIAL PEPTIDES FROM SEED OF IMPATIENS-BALSAMINA IS DERIVED FROM A SINGLE PRECURSOR PROTEIN

Citation
Rh. Tailor et al., A NOVEL FAMILY OF SMALL CYSTEINE-RICH ANTIMICROBIAL PEPTIDES FROM SEED OF IMPATIENS-BALSAMINA IS DERIVED FROM A SINGLE PRECURSOR PROTEIN, The Journal of biological chemistry, 272(39), 1997, pp. 24480-24487
Citations number
29
Categorie Soggetti
Biology
ISSN journal
00219258
Volume
272
Issue
39
Year of publication
1997
Pages
24480 - 24487
Database
ISI
SICI code
0021-9258(1997)272:39<24480:ANFOSC>2.0.ZU;2-9
Abstract
Four closely related peptides were isolated from seed of lmpatiens bal samina and were shown to be inhibitory to the growth of a range of fun gi and bacteria, while not being cytotoxic to cultured human cells, Th e peptides, designated Ib-AMP1, Ib-AMP2, Ib-AMP3, and Ib-AMP4, are 20 amino acids long and are the smallest plant-derived antimicrobial pept ides isolated to date, The Ib-AMPs (I. balsaminn antimicrobial peptide s) are highly basic and contain four cysteine residues which form two intramolecular disulfide bonds. Searches of protein data bases have fa iled to identify any proteins with significant homology to the peptide s described here, Characterization of isolated cDNAs reveals that all four peptides are encoded within a single transcript, The predicted Ib -AMP precursor protein consists of a prepeptide followed by 6 mature p eptide domains, each flanked by propeptide domains ranging from 16 to 35 amino acids in length, Such a primary structure with repeated alter nating basic mature peptide domains and acidic propeptide domains has, to date, not been reported in plants.