Direct cell penetration of the antifungal peptide, MMGP1, in Candida albicans.
An antifungal peptide, MMGP1, was recently identified from marine metagenome. The mechanism of cellular internalization of this peptide in Candida albicans was studied using fluorescein 5-isothiocynate (Sigma, California, USA) labeling followed by fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry analyses. The peptide could enter C. albicans cells even at 4 °C, where all energy-dependent transport mechanisms are blocked. In addition, the peptide internalization was not affected by the endocytic inhibitor, sodium azide. The kinetic study has shown that the peptide was initially localized on cell membrane and subsequently internalized into cytosol. The MMGP1 treatment exhibited time-dependent cytotoxicity in C. albicans as evidenced by SYTOX Green (Molecular Probes Inc., Eugene, Oreg) uptake.
Department of Genetics, Centre for Excellence in Genomic Sciences, School of Biological Sciences, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai 625021, India.
Muthuirulan
M
Pushpanathan
Jeyaprakash
J
Rajendhran
Sathyanarayanan
S
Jayashree
Balakrishnan
B
Sundarakrishnan
Seetharaman
S
Jayachandran
Paramasamy
P
Gunasekaran
D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D002176:Candida albicans / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D057846:Cell-Penetrating Peptides / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal
D000935:Antifungal Agents; D057846:Cell-Penetrating Peptides