Enhanced cecropin B2 production via chitin-binding domain and intein self-cleavage system.

In this study, various constructs and hosts were used to produce high levels of cecropin B2 (cecB2). To mitigate cecB2's toxic inhibition of host cells, various cecB2 constructs were built. Results showed that the combination of a chitin-binding domain and an intein self-cleavage motif in front of cecropin B2, without a His-tag, was best for cecB2 expression. E. coli ER2566 was the best host, and 2YT was the best medium for cultivation. Under these conditions, a cecB2 yield of 98.2 mg/L could be obtained after purification. The purified cecB2 expressed a wide antimicrobial effect on most Gram-negative strains, including multidrug-resistant Acinetobactor baumannii and Staphylococcus aureus. This study provides a systematic approach to the efficient production of the antimicrobial peptide (AMP) cecB2 via the recombinant E. coli process, which is expected to be an efficient way for the production of other AMPs.

Antibacterial Peptide CecropinB2 Production via Various Host and Construct Systems.

Cecropin is a cationic antibacterial peptide composed of 35-39 residues. This peptide has been identified as possessing strong antibacterial activity and low toxicity against eukaryotic cells, and it has been claimed that some types of the cecropin family of peptides are capable of killing cancer cells. In this study, the host effect of cloning antibacterial peptide cecropinB2 was investigated. Three different host expression systems were chosen, i.e., Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis and Pichia pastoris. Two gene constructs, cecropinB2 (cecB2) and intein-cecropinB2 (INT-cecB2), were applied. Signal peptide and propeptide from Armigeres subalbatus were also attached to the gene construct. The results showed that the best host for cloning cecropinB2 was P. pastoris SMD1168 harboring the gene of pGAPzαC-prepro-cecB2 via Western blot confirmation. The cecropinB2 that was purified using immobilized-metal affinity chromatography resin showed strong antibacterial activity against the Gram-negative strains, including the multi-drug-resistant bacteria Acinetobacter baumannii.

Development of an enzymatic chromatography strip with nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide-tetrazolium coupling reactions for quantitative l-lactate analysis.

In this study, a dry assay of l-lactate via the enzymatic chromatographic test (ECT) was developed. An l-lactate dehydrogenase plus a nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) regeneration reaction were applied simultaneously. Various tetrazolium salts were screened to reveal visible color intensities capable of determining the lactate concentrations in the sample. The optimal analysis conditions were as follows. The diaphorase (0.5 µl, 2(-6)U/µl) was immobilized in the test line of the ECT strip. Nitrotetrazolium blue chloride (5 µl, 12 mM), l-lactate dehydrogenase (1 µl, 0.25U/µl), and NAD(+) (2µl, 1.5×10(-5)M) were added into the mobile phase (100 µl) composed of 0.1% (w/w) Tween 20 in 10mM phosphate buffer (pH 9.0), and the process was left to run for 10 min. This detection had a linear range of 0.039 to 5mM with a detection limit of 0.047 mM. This quantitative analysis process for l-lactate was easy to operate with good stability and was proper for the point-of-care testing applications.