MRSA Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about MRSA, including details on methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, hospitals, infection, antibiotic resistance, superbugs.

Mucroporin, the first cationic host defence peptide from the venom of Lychas mucronatus.

Dai C, Ma Y, Zhao Z, Zhao R, Wang Q, Wu Y, Cao Z, Li W

State Key Laboratory of Virology, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.

The misuse of antibiotics has led our age to a dangerous edge, as antibiotic-resistant pathogens appears evolve quickly than antibiotics are invented. Thus, new agents to treat bacterial infection are badly needed. Cationic host defence peptides are on the first line of a host defence system, and are thought to be good candidates for treating bacterial infection. Here, a novel cationic host defence peptide, mucroporin, was cloned and characterized from the venom of Lychas mucronatus. The MIC for Staphylococcus aureus was 25microg/mL, including antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Based on the molecular template of mucroporin, mucroporin-M1 was designed by amino acid substitution. The MIC for Staphylococcus aureus was 5microg/mL, including antibiotic-resistant pathogens MRSA, MRCNS, PRSA and PRSE. Moreover, mucroporin-M1 also inhibited Gram-negative bacteria. The modes of action of mucroporin and mucroporin-M1 were both rapid killing by disrupting the cell membrane of bacteria, and the number of surviving bacteria was reduced by about 4-5 orders of magnitude immediately after peptide delivery. These results revealed that mucroporin could be considered a potential anti-infective drug, especially for treating antibiotic-resistant pathogens.

Published 9 September 2008 in Antimicrob Agents Chemother.
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