title: Molecular cloning and biological characterization of novel antimicrobial peptides, pilosulin 3 and pilosulin 4, from a species of the Australian ant genus Myrmecia.
abstract: Venom of an Australian ant species of the Myrmecia pilosula species complex (mss. name Myrmecia banksi Taylor) contains two major allergenic peptides, pilosulin 1 and pilosulin 2. To obtain novel cDNA clones that encode the pilosulin-related bioactive peptides, mRNA of another Myrmecia species was subjected to RT-PCR in which the forward primer corresponds to a nucleotide sequence in the leader sequences of pilosulin 1 and pilosulin 2. As a result, we isolated cDNA clones encoding the novel antimicrobial peptides pilosulin 3 and pilosulin 4. The nucleotide and the amino acid sequences of all four pilosulins have high homology except for the mature peptide coding regions. Synthetic pilosulin 3 and pilosulin 4 peptides displayed antimicrobial activity with histamine-releasing and low hemolytic activities.
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8566, Japan. h-inagaki@aist.go.jp
authors.forename: Hidetoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Inagaki
authors.forename: Masaaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Akagi
authors.forename: Hirotami T
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Imai
authors.forename: Robert W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: Tai
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kubo
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000862:Ant Venoms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology; D001000:Ants; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000378:metabolism; D019992:Databases as Topic; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000378:metabolism; D006632:Histamine / Q000378:metabolism; D045022:Lactate Dehydrogenases / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
chemical_list: D000862:Ant Venoms; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D010455:Peptides; C488514:pilosulin 3; C488513:pilosulin 4; D006632:Histamine; D045022:Lactate Dehydrogenases