P. Mak et al., ISOLATION, ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITIES, AND PRIMARY STRUCTURES OF HAMSTER NEUTROPHIL DEFENSINS, Infection and immunity, 64(11), 1996, pp. 4444-4449
Hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) neutrophil granules contain at least fo
ur microbicidal peptides belonging to the defensin family. These compo
unds were purified from granule acid extracts by reverse-phase chromat
ography and termed HaNP-1 to -4 (hamster neutrophil peptide). HaNP-1 a
nd HaNP-3 revealed the most bactericidal activity, with a 50% inhibito
ry concentration of 0.3 to 0.8 mu g/ml for Staphylococcus aureus and S
treptococcus pyogenes strains. The HaNP-4 was always isolated in conce
ntrations exceeding about 10 times the concentrations of other hamster
peptides, but its antibacterial activity as well that of HaNP-2 was r
elatively lower, probably as a result of conserved Arg residue substit
utions. Other microorganisms were also tested, and generally, hamster
defensins exhibited less potency against gram-negative bacteria. The a
mino acid sequence of hamster defensins showed a high percentage of id
entity to the sequence of mouse enteric defensins, reaching about 60%
identical residues in the case of HaNP-3 and cryptdin 3.