N-terminus three residues deletion mutant of human beta-defensin 3 with remarkably enhanced salt-resistance

PLoS One. 2015 Feb 23;10(2):e0117913. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0117913. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

In this study, we designed and synthesized three N-terminal deletion analogs of human beta-defensin 3 (hBD-3), namely, hBD-3Δ4, hBD-3Δ7, and hBD-3Δ10, to determine the effect of N-terminal residues on the antibacterial activity and salt resistance of these peptides. The antibacterial activities and salt resistance of hBD-3 and its analogs were tested against a broad range of standard and clinically isolated strains. The deletion of nine N-terminal residues significantly reduced the antibacterial activity of hBD-3 against most of tested strains, particularly Klebsiella pneumonia. Compared with hBD-3 and other analogs, the analog with a deletion of three residues, hBD-3Δ4, exhibited significantly higher antimicrobial activity against almost all the tested strains, especially Escherichia coli and Enterococcus faecium, at high NaCl concentrations. Given its broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity and high salt resistance, hBD-3Δ4 could serve as a promising template for new therapeutic antimicrobial agents.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Anti-Infective Agents / pharmacology
  • Bacteria / drug effects
  • Humans
  • Microbial Sensitivity Tests
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Peptides / genetics
  • Peptides / pharmacology
  • Salt Tolerance / genetics*
  • Sequence Deletion / genetics*
  • Sodium Chloride / administration & dosage*
  • beta-Defensins / genetics*
  • beta-Defensins / pharmacology*

Substances

  • Anti-Infective Agents
  • DEFB103A protein, human
  • Peptides
  • beta-Defensins
  • Sodium Chloride

Grants and funding

This work is supported by National Science and Technology Major Project, Grant Number 2013ZX09304101, Grant Recipient Hui Wang; National Key Basic Research Program (973) project, Grant Number 2015CB554202, Grant Recipient Hui Wang; and National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant Number 81401643, Grant Recipient Tao Li. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.