Identification and Characterization of Novel Antimicrobial Peptide from Hippocampus comes by In Silico and Experimental Studies

Background and Aim : Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have attracted attentions as a novel antimicrobial agent because of their unique activity against microbes. In the present study, we described a new, previously unreported AMP, moronecidin-like peptide, from Hippocampus comes and compared its antimicrobial activity with moronecidin from hybrid striped bass.Methods : Antimicrobial activity of moronecidin and moronecidin-like protein was performed against gram negative bacteria and yeasts in physiological pH and salt concentration. Furthermore The time-killing assay, the hemolytic and cytotoxic activities of peptides was done.Results : Antibacterial assay indicated that gram-positive bacteria were more sensitive to moronecidin and moronecidin-like compared with gramnegative bacteria. Furthermore, both AMPs were found to exhibit effective antifungal activity. Comparative analysis of the antimicrobial activity revealed that moronecidin-like peptide has higher activity against Acinetobacter baumannii and Staphylococcus epidermidis relative to moronecidin. Both moronecidin-like and moronecidin peptides retained their antibacterial activity in physiological pH and salt concentration. The time-killing assay showed that the AMPs completely killed A. baumannii and S. epidermidis isolates after ۱ and ۵ h at five- and tenfold above their corresponding MICs, respectively. Anti-biofilm assay demonstrated that peptides were able to inhibit ۵۰% of biofilm formation at sub-MIC of ۱/۸ MIC. Furthermore, moronecidin-like significantly inhibited biofilm formation more than moronecidin at ۱/۱۶ MIC. Conclusion : Collectively, our results revealed that antimicrobial and anti-biofilm activities of moronecidin-like are comparable to moronecidin. In addition, the hemolytic and cytotoxic activities of moronecidin-like were lower than those of moronecidin, suggesting it as a potential novel therapeutic agent, and a template to design new therapeutic AMPs.

کلیدواژه ها:

Biofilm ، Antimicrobial peptide ، ، antibacterial ، antibiofilm