title: Antifungal-protein production in maize (Zea mays) suspension cultures.
abstract: The growing emergency due to the phenomenon of drug resistance to micro-organisms has pushed forward the search for new potential drug alternatives to those already in use. Plants represent a suitable source of new antifungal molecules, as they produce a series of defensive proteins. Among them are the PRPs (pathogenesis-related proteins), shown to be effective in vitro against human pathogens. An optimized and established cell-suspension culture of maize (Zea mays) was shown to constitutively secrete in the medium a series of PRPs comprising the antifungal protein zeamatin (P33679) with a final yield of approx. 3 mg/litre. The in-vitro-produced zeamatin possessed antifungal activity towards a clinical strain of the human pathogenic yeast Candida albicans, an activity comparable with the one reported for the same protein extracted from maize seeds. Along with zeamatin, other PRPs were expressed: a 9 kDa lipid-transfer protein, a 26 kDa xylanase inhibitor and a new antifungal protein, PR-5. A fast, two-step chromatographic procedure was set up allowing the complete purification of the proteins considered, making this cell line a valuable system for the production of potential antifungal agents in a reliable and easy way.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biochemistry and Clinical Biochemistry, Catholic University, Largo F. Vito 1, 00168 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Perri
authors.forename: Serena
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Della Penna
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rufini
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Patamia
authors.forename: Mariantonietta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bonito
authors.forename: Letizia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Angiolella
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vitali
mesh_terms: D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002176:Candida albicans / Q000187:drug effects*; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003313:Zea mays / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000935:Antifungal Agents; D010940:Plant Proteins; C073468:zeamatin protein, Zea mays