title: Identification and characterization of antimicrobial peptides from the skin of the endangered frog Odorrana ishikawae.
abstract: The endangered anuran species, Odorrana ishikawae, is endemic to only two small Japanese Islands, Amami and Okinawa. To assess the innate immune system in this frog, we investigated antimicrobial peptides in the skin using artificially bred animals. Nine novel antimicrobial peptides containing the C-terminal cyclic heptapeptide domain were isolated on the basis of antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli. The peptides were members of the esculentin-1 (two peptides), esculentin-2 (one peptide), palustrin-2 (one peptide), brevinin-2 (three peptides) and nigrocin-2 (two peptides) antimicrobial peptide families. They were named esculentin-1ISa, esculentin-1ISb, esculentin-2ISa, palustrin-2ISa, brevinin-2ISa, brevinin-2ISb, brevinin-2ISc, nigrocin-2ISa and nigrocin-2ISb. Peptide primary structures suggest a close relationship with the Asian odorous frogs, Odorrana grahami and Odorrana hosii. These antimicrobial peptides possessed a broad-spectrum of growth inhibition against five microorganisms (E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin-resistant S. aureus, Bacillus subtilis and Candida albicans). Nine different cDNAs encoding the precursor proteins were also cloned and showed that the precursor proteins exhibited a signal peptide, an N-terminal acidic spacer domain, a Lys-Arg processing site and an antimicrobial peptide at the C-terminus.
authors.affiliation: Section of Life Science, Graduate School of Integrated Arts and Sciences, Hiroshima University, Kagamiyama 1-7-1, Higashi-Hiroshima 739-8521, Japan. ukena@hiroshima-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Eiko
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Iwakoshi-Ukena
authors.forename: Kazuyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ukena
authors.forename: Aiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Okimoto
authors.forename: Miyuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Soga
authors.forename: Genya
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Okada
authors.forename: Naomi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sano
authors.forename: Tamotsu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fujii
authors.forename: Yoshiaki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sugawara
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sumida
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001001:Anura; D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects; D002175:Candida / Q000187:drug effects; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D056727:Endangered Species; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011487:Protein Conformation; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D012867:Skin / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D010455:Peptides