ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF A NOVEL 26-KDA SERINE-PROTEASE IN THE YELLOW BODY OF SARCOPHAGA-PEREGRINA (FLESH FLY) PUPAE

We have reported a novel serine protease produced by Sarcophaga peregr ina (Nakajima et al., J. Biol. Chem. 272 (1997) 23805-23810), This 26- kDa protease showed antibacterial activity against several bacteria, T his activity was an intrinsic characteristic of the enzyme protein and not directly related to its protease activity, because treating the 2 6-kDa protease with diisopropyl fluorophosphate had no appreciable eff ect on its antibacterial activity, Unlike bovine trypsin, the 26-kDa p rotease interacted with acidic phospholipids, suggesting that its anti bacterial activity is attributable to interaction with bacterial membr anes. (C) 1998 Federation of European Biochemical Societies.