title: New potent antimicrobial peptides from the venom of Polistinae wasps and their analogs.
abstract: Four new peptides of the mastoparan family, characterized recently in the venom of three neotropical social wasps collected in the Dominican Republic, Polistes major major, Polistes dorsalis dorsalis and Mischocyttarus phthisicus were synthesized and tested for antimicrobial potency against Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli (E.c.) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and for hemolytic and mast cells degranulation activities. As these peptides possess strong antimicrobial activity (minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) values against Bacillus subtillis and E.c. in the range of 5-40 microM), we prepared 40 of their analogs to correlate biological activities, especially antimicrobial, with the net positive charge, hydrophobicity, amphipathicity, peptide length, amino acid substitutions at different positions of the peptide chain, N-terminal acylation and C-terminal deamidation. Circular dichroism spectra of the peptides measured in the presence of trifluoroethanol or SDS showed that the peptides might adopt alpha-helical conformation in such anisotropic environments.
authors: Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Flemingovo nám. 2, 166 10 Prague 6, Czech Republic. cerovsky@uochb.cas.cz
authors: Václav
authors: V
authors: Cerovský
authors: Jirina
authors: J
authors: Slaninová
authors: Vladimír
authors: V
authors: Fucík
authors: Hana
authors: H
authors: Hulacová
authors: Lenka
authors: L
authors: Borovicková
authors: Rudolf
authors: R
authors: Jezek
authors: Lucie
authors: L
authors: Bednárová
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D019943:Amino Acid Substitution; D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000187:drug effects; D015550:Cell Degranulation; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000187:drug effects; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000187:drug effects; D006461:Hemolysis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D020128:Inhibitory Concentration 50; D008407:Mast Cells / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010455:Peptides / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000187:drug effects; D051381:Rats; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000187:drug effects; D014862:Wasp Venoms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014863:Wasps / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides; D010455:Peptides; D014862:Wasp Venoms