CyLoP-1: Membrane-active peptide with cell-penetrating and antimicrobial properties.
CyLoP-1 is a cysteine-rich cell-penetrating peptide derived from nuclear localization sequence of snake toxin, crotamine. The peptide has shown cytoplasmic uptake in mammalian cells at lower concentrations. In the present study, the cell-penetrating and antimicrobial activity of the peptide has been studied by employing mammalian cells, plant cells as well as bacterial and fungal pathogens. The study shows that the peptide acts as an effective CPP and a cargo-delivery vector for not only mammalian cells but also for plant cells. Besides this, the peptide also possesses antimicrobial activity against representative pathogens tested. It is shown to be effective in killing methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. We have observed that the presence of cysteine residues in the peptide play a major role in conferring cell-penetrating as well as antimicrobial activity to the peptide since there is a significant decline in these activities when cysteine residues are replaced with serine residues. Our findings are significant for the proposition that CyLoP-1 is an efficient membrane-active peptide with both cell-penetrating and antimicrobial activity. Hence, it can be further evaluated for its application in the field of drug-delivery, plant biotechnology and as a peptide-antibiotic.
Kusuma School of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi 110016, India.
Nisha
N
Ponnappan
Kusuma School of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi 110016, India.
Deepthi Poornima
DP
Budagavi
Kusuma School of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi 110016, India. Electronic address: achugh@bioschool.iitd.ac.in.
Archana
A
Chugh
D000818:Animals; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides / Q000494:pharmacology*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism*; D057846:Cell-Penetrating Peptides / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003435:Crotalid Venoms / Q000378:metabolism; D017839:Crotalus / Q000378:metabolism; D003545:Cysteine / Q000378:metabolism; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D055624:Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus / Q000187:drug effects; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests / Q000379:methods; D009842:Oligopeptides / Q000494:pharmacology*
D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides; D057846:Cell-Penetrating Peptides; D003435:Crotalid Venoms; C558920:CyLoP-1 peptide; D009842:Oligopeptides; C010563:crotamine; D003545:Cysteine
Antimicrobial agents; Cysteine residues; Drug delivery; Mesophyll protoplast; Peptide transport; Toxins