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Tribolium castaneum defensins are primarily active against Gram-positive bacteria

SYSNO ASEP	0451350
Document Type	J - Journal Article
R&D Document Type	Journal Article
Subsidiary J	Článek ve WOS
Title	Tribolium castaneum defensins are primarily active against Gram-positive bacteria
Author(s)	Tonk, M. (DE) Knorr, E. (DE) Cabezas-Cruz, A. (FR) Valdés, James J. (BC-A)_{RID, ORCID} Kollewe, C. (DE) Vilcinskas, A. (DE)
Source Title	Journal of Invertebrate Pathology. - : Elsevier - ISSN 0022-2011 Roč. 132, NOV 2015 (2015), s. 208-215
Number of pages	8 s.
Publication form	Print - P
Language	eng - English
Country	US - United States
Keywords	Antimicrobial peptides ; Defensin ; Innate immunity ; Insects ; Tribolium castaneum ; Gram-positive bacteria
Subject RIV	EI - Biotechnology ; Bionics
R&D Projects	EE2.3.30.0032 GA MŠMT - Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MEYS)
Institutional support	BC-A - RVO:60077344
UT WOS	000365630200023
DOI	10.1016/j.jip.2015.10.009
Annotation	The red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum is a destructive insect pest of stored food and feed products, and a model organism for development, evolutionary biology and immunity. The insect innate immune system includes antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) with a wide spectrum of targets including viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites. Defensins are an evolutionarily-conserved class of AMPs and a potential new source of antimicrobial agents. In this context, we report the antimicrobial activity, phylogenetic and structural properties of three T. castaneum defensins (Def1, Def2 and Def3) and their relevance in the immunity of T. castaneum against bacterial pathogens. All three recombinant defensins showed bactericidal activity against Micrococcus luteus and Bacillus thuringiensis serovar tolworthi, but only Def1 and Def2 showed a bacteriostatic effect against Staphylococcus epidermidis. None of the defensins showed activity against the Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas entomophila or against the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. All three defensins were transcriptionally upregulated following a bacterial challenge, suggesting a key role in the immunity of T. castaneum against bacterial pathogens. Phylogenetic analysis showed that defensins from T. castaneum, mealworms, Udo longhorn beetle and houseflies cluster within a well-defined clade of insect defensins. We conclude that T. castaneum defensins are primarily active against Gram-positive bacteria and that other AMPs may play a more prominent role against Gram-negative species.
Workplace	Biology Centre (since 2006)
Contact	Dana Hypšová, eje@eje.cz, Tel.: 387 775 214
Year of Publishing	2016

Number of the records: 1