title: Fabatins: new antimicrobial plant peptides.
abstract: Two new antimicrobial peptides related to the gamma-thionine family have been isolated by acid extraction from the broad bean Vicia faba. The extract was separated by ion exchange chromatography, and a fraction showing antibacterial activity was further purified by reverse-phase HPLC. Material from a single HPLC peak was sequenced and revealed the presence of two peptides differing by one amino acid. The peptides were named fabatins. They are 47 amino acids long, have an overall positive charge and contain 8 cysteines that probably form 4 disulfide bridges characteristic of the gamma-thionins. Fabatins were active against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, but were inactive against the yeasts Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Candida albicans.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lewis
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology*; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000187:drug effects; D002176:Candida albicans / Q000187:drug effects; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D016983:Enterococcus / Q000187:drug effects; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000187:drug effects; D007887:Fabaceae / Q000737:chemistry*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010455:Peptides; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010946:Plants, Medicinal; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000187:drug effects; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000187:drug effects; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D010455:Peptides; D010940:Plant Proteins; C097482:THI2.1 protein, Arabidopsis