title: An antimicrobial peptide Ar-AMP from amaranth (Amaranthus retroflexus L.) seeds.
abstract: A 30-residue antimicrobial peptide Ar-AMP was isolated from the seeds of amaranth Amaranthus retroflexus L. essentially by a single step procedure using reversed-phase HPLC, and its in vitro biological activities were studied. The complete amino acid sequence of Ar-AMP was determined by Edman degradation in combination with mass spectrometric methods. In addition, the cDNA encoding Ar-AMP was obtained and sequenced. The cDNA encodes a precursor protein consisting of the N-terminal putative signal sequence of 25 amino acids, a mature peptide of 30 amino acids and a 34-residue long C-terminal region cleaved during post-translational processing. According to sequence similarity the Ar-AMP belongs to the hevein-like family of antimicrobial peptides with six cysteine residues. In spite of the fact that seeds were collected in 1967 and lost their germination capacity, Ar-AMP retained its biological activities. It effectively inhibited the growth of different fungi tested: Fusarium culmorium (Smith) Sacc., Helminthosporium sativum Pammel., King et Bakke, Alternaria consortiale Fr., and Botrytis cinerea Pers., caused morphological changes in Rhizoctonia solani Kühn at micromolar concentrations and protected barley seedlings from H. sativum infection.
authors.affiliation: Shemyakin and Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow.
authors.forename: Aleksey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lipkin
authors.forename: Veronika
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Anisimova
authors.forename: Aleksandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nikonorova
authors.forename: Aleksey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Babakov
authors.forename: Eberhardt
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Krause
authors.forename: Mikhael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bienert
authors.forename: Eugene
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Grishin
authors.forename: Tsezi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Egorov
mesh_terms: D027721:Amaranthus / Q000737:chemistry*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001665:Binding Sites; D002686:Chitin / Q000378:metabolism; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D003545:Cysteine / Q000737:chemistry; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D005658:Fungi / Q000187:drug effects; D001467:Hordeum / Q000382:microbiology; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010455:Peptides / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D012639:Seeds / Q000737:chemistry; D020539:Sequence Analysis, Protein
chemical_list: D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D010455:Peptides; D002686:Chitin; D003545:Cysteine