Recombinant AfusinC, an anionic fungal CSαβ defensin from Aspergillus fumigatus, exhibits antimicrobial activity against gram-positive bacteria

PLoS One. 2018 Oct 11;13(10):e0205509. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0205509. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are short and generally positively charged peptides found in a wide variety of organisms. CSαβ defensins are a group of AMPs. These defensins are composed of an α-helix and a β-sheet linked by three or four disulphide bridges. In this study, we describe the antimicrobial activity of an anionic CSαβ fungal defensin from Aspergillus fumigatus, AfusinC. AfusinC was recombinantly produced as a fusion protein in Escherichia coli. The tag was removed by proteolytic cleavage, and AfusinC was purified by size exclusion chromatography. About 0.8 mg of recombinant AfusinC was obtained from 1 L of culture. Recombinant AfusinC was active against mainly gram-positive bacteria including human pathogens and a multiresistant-strain of A. aureus. Additionally, AfusinC showed bactericidal effect against Micrococcus luteus.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / isolation & purification
  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / pharmacology*
  • Aspergillus fumigatus
  • Escherichia coli
  • Gram-Positive Bacteria / drug effects*
  • Microbial Sensitivity Tests
  • Recombinant Proteins / genetics
  • Recombinant Proteins / isolation & purification
  • Recombinant Proteins / pharmacology*

Substances

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents
  • Recombinant Proteins

Grants and funding

Gabriela Contreras was funded by a CONICYT/BECAS CHILE scholarship (72150082). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.