Amp1

The antimicrobial activities of natural products have attracted much attention due to the increasing incidence of pathogens that have become resistant to drugs. Thus, it has been attempted to promisingly manage infectious diseases via a new group of therapeutic agents called antimicrobial peptides. In this study a novel antifungal peptide, MCh-AMP1, was purified by reverse phase-HPLC and sequenced by de novo sequencing and Edman degradation. The antifungal activity, safety, thermal and pH stability of MCh-AMP1 were determined...

The diversity of defensive peptides from skin of amphibians has been demonstrated. These peptides may have resulted from the diversity of microorganisms encountered by amphibians. In this study, peptidomics and RNA sequencing analyses were used to study deeply the defensive peptides of the skin secretions from Polypedates megacephalus. A total of 99 defensive peptides have been identified from the skin secretions. Among these peptides, 3 peptides were myotropical peptides and 34 peptides classified as protease inhibitor peptides...

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) can be found in various organisms, and could be considered an alternative for pesticides used to control plant pathogens, including those affecting citrus. Brazil is the largest producer and exporter of frozen concentrated orange juice in the world. However, the citrus industry has been affected by several diseases such as citrus canker and huanglongbing (HLB), caused by the bacteria Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri (X.citri) and Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CaLas), respectively...

Key message Nine transgenes from different categories, viz. plant defense response genes and anti-apoptosis genes, played combined roles in maize to inhibit the necrotrophic pathogens Rhizoctonia solani and Bipolaris maydis. Maize sheath blight and southern corn leaf blight are major global threats to maize production. The management of these necrotrophic pathogens has encountered limited success due to the characteristics of their lifestyle. Here, we presented a transgenic pyramiding breeding strategy to achieve nine different resistance genes integrated in one transgenic maize line to combat different aspects of necrotrophic pathogens...

Plants show an indeterminate mode of growth by the activity of organ forming stem cell niches in apically positioned meristems. The correct formation and activity of these meristems are a prerequisite for their adaptive development and also allow the maintenance of organogenesis under adverse circumstances such as wounding. Mutation of the putative Arabidopsis ( Arabidopsis thaliana ) Glu carboxypeptidase ALTERED MERISTEM PROGRAM1 (AMP1) results in Arabidopsis plants with enlarged shoot apical meristems, supernumerary stem cell pools, and higher leaf formation rate...

Plant-microbe associations are thought to be beneficial for plant growth and resistance against biotic or abiotic stresses, but for natural ecosystems, the ecological analysis of microbiome function remains in its infancy. We used transformed wild tobacco plants ( Nicotiana attenuata ) which constitutively express an antimicrobial peptide (Mc-AMP1) of the common ice plant, to establish an ecological tool for plant-microbe studies in the field. Transgenic plants showed in planta activity against plant-beneficial bacteria and were phenotyped within the plants´ natural habitat regarding growth, fitness and the resistance against herbivores...

Due to an increase in the occurrence of multi drug resistant microorganisms a need for the development of alternative drugs comes in light. This alternative drug should be such that the microorganisms should not be able to develop resistance against them easily. Antimicrobial peptides are the most potential candidates to be developed as alternative drug. In the present study the three toxins ETA, ETB and PVL of Staphylococcus aureus were docked with four antimicrobial peptides, Ib-AMP1, JCPep7, Snakin2, Sesquin, derived from plants...

A lytic podophage RSPI1 was isolated from tobacco field soil collected in Fujian Province, South China using host bacterium Ralstonia solanacearum Tb15-14. Whole genome sequencing of this phage was performed using the high-throughput Ion Torrent PGM Sequencer. The complete genome of RSPI1 was 43,211 bp in length with a mean DNA G + C content of 61.5%. A total of 48 open reading frames were identified with lengths ranging from 132 bp to 5,061 bp, of which, 11, 12 and 25 were identified as functional, structural and unknown genes, respectively...

Antimicrobial peptide (AMP) is an important molecule in the innate immune system. Here, we report the cloning and functional studies of proline-rich AMPs (PR-AMPs) from the three species of mud crab: Scylla paramamosain, S. serrata, and the swimming crab Portunus pelagicus. The deduced peptides revealed that they contain the putative signal peptides and encode for mature peptides, which contain sequence architecture similar to a 6.5-kDa proline-rich AMP of the shore crab, Carcinus maenas which showed similarity with the bactenecin7...

RNA intereferencing (RNAi) pathway regulates antiviral immunity and mediates plant growth and development. Despite considerable research efforts, a few components in RNAi pathway have been revealed, including ARGONAUTEs (AGOs), DICER-LIKEs (DCLs), RNA-dependent RNA polymerase 1 and 6 (RDR1/6), and ALTERED MERISTEM PROGRAM 1 (AMP1). In this study, we performed a forward genetic screening for enhancers of rdr6 via inoculation of CMV2aTΔ2b, a 2b-deficient Cucumber Mosaic Virus that is unable to suppress RNAi-mediated antiviral immunity...

An Arabidopsis thaliana ALTERED MERISTEM PROGRAM1 (AtAMP1), which encodes a putative glutamate carboxypeptidase, not only controls shoot apical meristem development, but also is involved in tolerance response to abiotic stresses. Here, we introduce a novel mutant; named amp1-32 that is a phenocopier to previously isolated different amp1 mutant alleles. Interestingly, tiny leaves were continuously developed at the bottom of pre-emerged leaves in the amp1-32. The amp1-32 mutant was less sensitive to heat shock treatment lasting for 3 h, whereas disease symptoms were severely developed in the mutant after Pseudomonas syringae infection...

Genome-wide screening of Saccharomyces cerevisiae revealed that signaling pathways related to the alkaline pH stress contribute to resistance to plant antimicrobial peptide, Pn-AMP1. Plant antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are considered to be promising candidates for controlling phytopathogens. Pn-AMP1 is a hevein-type plant AMP that shows potent and broad-spectrum antifungal activity. Genome-wide chemogenomic screening was performed using heterozygous and homozygous diploid deletion pools of Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a chemogenetic model system to identify genes whose deletion conferred enhanced sensitivity to Pn-AMP1...

We recently found that Saccharomyces cerevisiae (strain CCMI 885) secretes antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) derived from the glycolytic enzyme glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) that are active against various wine-related yeast and bacteria. Here, we show that several other S. cerevisiae strains also secrete natural biocide fractions during alcoholic fermentation, although at different levels, which correlates with the antagonistic effect exerted against non-Saccharomyces yeasts. We, therefore, term this biocide saccharomycin...

BACKGROUND: Sei-1 is an oncogene capable of inducing double minute chromosomes (DMs) formation. DMs are hallmarks of amplification and contribute to oncogenesis. However, the mechanism of Sei-1 inducing DMs formation remains unelucidated. RESULTS: DMs formation significantly increased during serial passage in vivo and gradually decreased following culture in vitro. micro nuclei (MN) was found to be responsible for the reduction. Of the DMs-carrying genes, Met was found to be markedly amplified, overexpressed and highly correlated with DMs formation...

ALTERED MERISTEM PROGRAM1 (AMP1) is a member of the M28 family of carboxypeptidases with a pivotal role in plant development and stress adaptation. Its most prominent mutant defect is a unique hypertrophic shoot phenotype combining a strongly increased organ formation rate with enhanced meristem size and the formation of ectopic meristem poles. However, so far the role of AMP1 in shoot development could not be assigned to a specific molecular pathway nor is its biochemical function resolved. In this work we evaluated the level of functional conservation between AMP1 and its human homolog HsGCPII, a tumor marker of medical interest...

In addition to the micronutrient inadequacy of staple crops for optimal human nutrition, a global downtrend in crop-quality has emerged from intensive breeding for yield. This trend will be aggravated by elevated levels of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. Therefore, crop biofortification is inevitable to ensure a sustainable supply of minerals to the large part of human population who is dietary dependent on staple crops. This requires a thorough understanding of plant-mineral interactions due to the complexity of mineral homeostasis...

BACKGROUND: Adiponectin is an abundant adipose tissue-derived protein with anti-atherogenic, anti-inflammatory and antidiabetic properties. Plasma adiponectin levels are decreased in obesity, type 2 diabetes, and coronary artery disease and low adiponectin levels also predict insulin resistance (IR). METHODS: Case-control study in which 642 male and female subjects were participated from the North Indian population. Lipid, insulin, leptin and adiponectin level were estimated using standard protocols by commercially available test kits...

Naturally occurring cystine knot peptides show a wide range of biological activity, and as they have inherent stability they represent potential scaffolds for peptide-based drug design and biomolecular engineering. Here we report the discovery, sequencing, chemical synthesis, three-dimensional solution structure determination and bioactivity of the first cystine knot peptide from Cactaceae (cactus) family: Ep-AMP1 from Echinopsis pachanoi. The structure of Ep-AMP1 (35 amino acids) conforms to that of the inhibitor cystine knot (or knottin) family but represents a novel diverse sequence; its activity was more than 500 times higher against bacterial than against eukaryotic cells...

Plants are able to reiteratively form new organs in an environmentally adaptive manner during postembryonic development. Organ formation in plants is dependent on stem cell niches (SCNs), which are located in the so-called meristems. Meristems show a functional zonation along the apical-basal axis and the radial axis. Shoot apical meristems of higher plants are dome-like structures, which contain a central SCN that consists of an apical stem cell pool and an underlying organizing center. Organ primordia are formed in the circular peripheral zone (PZ) from stem cell descendants in which differentiation programs are activated...

Multifunctional and promiscuous antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) can be used as an efficient strategy to control pathogens. However, little is known about the structural properties of plant promiscuous AMPs without disulfide bonds. CD and NMR were used to elucidate the structure of the promiscuous peptide Cn-AMP1, a disulfide-free peptide isolated from green coconut water. Data here reported shows that peptide structure is transitory and could be different according to the micro-environment. In this regard, Cn-AMP1 showed a random coil in a water environment and an α-helical structure in the presence of SDS-d25 micelles...