Bacterial expression of tenecin 3, an insect antifungal protein isolated from Tenebrio molitor, and its efficient purification

Tenecin 3, an antifungal protein isolated from the insect Tenebrio molitor larvae, inhibits growth of the fungus Candida albicans, However, the antifu ngal mechanism and functions of tenecin 3 have not yet been studied due to its very low availability from the natural source. Here we report an expres sion system of the recombinant tenecin 3 in E, coli, whose amino acid compo sition is the same with that of the natural tenecin 3, We also devised a si mple and easy procedure to isolate the recombinant protein from the bacteri al cell extracts, The recombinant tenecin 3 showed an antifungal activity a gainst C, albicans as the natural tenecin 3 did. Therefore large quantities of tenecin 3 can be easily obtained by the expression and purification sys tem of tenecin 3 described in this report.