Yh. Jung et al., BIOCHEMICAL AND MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION OF AN ANTIFUNGAL PROTEIN FROM TENEBRIO-MOLITOR LARVAE, Molecules and cells, 5(3), 1995, pp. 287-292
We have purified an antifungal protein, named tenecin 3, from meal wor
ms (larvae of Tenebrio molitor) by a combination of heat treatment, C-
18 reverse-phase open column chromatography, and C-18 reverse-phase hi
gh performance liquid chromatography. A cDNA region containing coding
information for tenecin 3 was identified by means of PCR-amplification
with a degenerate primer inferred from its partial amino acid sequenc
e. Analysis of cDNA indicated that tenecin 3 was composed of 78 amino
acids and generated from a 96-amino acid precursor molecule. Tenecin 3
is rich in glycine (43.6% in molar percent) and has a repeated motif
of Gly-X-X-Gly where X denotes glutamine, histidine, or leucine. This
motif reiterates 11 times in tenecin 3. Comparative analysis of teneci
n 3 and other antifungal proteins from different insects provides evid
ence for the existence of a family of antifungal proteins.