Molecular Design, Structural Analysis and Antifungal Activity of Derivatives of Peptide CGA-N46.

Chromogranin A (CGA)-N46, a derived peptide of human chromogranin A, has antifungal activity. To further research the active domain of CGA-N46, a series of derivatives were designed by successively deleting amino acid from both terminus of CGA-N46, and the amino acid sequence of each derivative was analyzed by bioinformatic software. Based on the predicted physicochemical properties of the peptides, including half-life time in mammalian reticulocytes (in vitro), yeast (in vivo) and E. coli (in vivo), instability index, aliphatic index and grand average of hydropathicity (GRAVY), the secondary structure, net charge, the distribution of hydrophobic residues and hydrophilic residues, the final derivatives CGA-N15, CGA-N16, CGA-N12 and CGA-N8 were synthesized by solid-phase peptide synthesis. The results of bioinformatic analysis showed that CGA-N46 and its derivatives were α-helix, neutral or weak positive charge, hydrophilic, and CGA-N12 and CGA-N8 were more stable than the other derivatives. The results of circular dichroism confirmed that CGA-N46 and its derived peptides displayed α-helical structure in an aqueous solution and 30 mM sodium dodecylsulfate, but α-helical contents decreased in hydrophobic lipid vesicles. CGA-N15, CGA-N16, CGA-N12 and CGA-N8 had higher antifungal activities than their mother peptide CGA-N46. Among of the derived peptides, CGA-N12 showed the least hemolytic activity. In conclusion, we have successfully identified the active domain of CGA-N46 with strong antifungal activity and weak hemolytic activity, which provides the possibility to develop a new class of antibiotics.

Optimization of the Expression Conditions of CGA-N46 in Bacillus subtilis DB1342(p-3N46) by Response Surface Methodology.

CGA-N46 is a small antifungal-derived peptide and consists of the 31st-76th amino acids of the N-terminus of human chromogranin A. Polycistronic expression of recombinant CGA-N46 in Bacillus subtilis DB1342 was used to improve its production, but the yield of CGA-N46 was still low. In the present study, response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize culture medium composition and growth conditions of the engineered strain B. subtilis DB1342(p-3N46) for the further increase in CGA-N46 yield. The results of two-level factorial experiments indicated that dextrin and tryptone were significant factors affecting CGA-N46 expression. Central composite design (CCD) was used to determine the ideal conditions of each significant factors. From the results of CCD, the optimal medium composition was predicted to be dextrin 16.6 g/L, tryptone 19.2 g/L, KH2PO4·H2O 6 g/L, pH 6.5. And the optimal culture process indicated inoculation of B. subtilis DB1342(p-3N46) seed culture into fresh culture medium at 5 % (v/v), followed by expression of CGA-N46 for 56 hours at 30 °C induced by 2 % (v/v) sucrose after one hour of shaking culture. To test optimal CGA-N46 peptide expression, the yeast growth inhibition assay was employed and it was found that under optimal culture conditions, CGA-N46 inhibited the growth of Candida albican by 42.17, 30.86 % more than that in the pre-optimization conditions. In summary, RSM can be used to optimize expression conditions of CGA-N46 in engineered strains B. subtilis DB1342(p-3N46).

Optimization of the expression conditions of CGA-N46 in Bacillus subtilis DB1342(p-3N46) by response surface methodology.

CGA-N46 is a small antifungal derived peptide and consists of the 31st to 76th amino acids of the N-terminus of human chromogranin A. Polycistronic expression of recombinant CGA-N46 in Bacillus subtilis DB1342 was used to improve its production, but the yield of CGA-N46 was still low. In the present study, response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize culture medium composition and growth conditions of the engineered strain B. subtilis DB1342(p-3N46) for the further increase of CGA-N46 yield. The results of two-level factorial experiments indicated that dextrin and tryptone were significant factors affecting CGA-N46 expression. Central composite design (CCD) was used to determine the ideal conditions of each significant factors. From the results of CCD, the optimal medium composition was predicted to be dextrin 16.6 g/L, tryptone 19.2 g/L, KH2PO4·3H2O 6 g/L, pH 6.5. And the optimal culture process was indicated that B. subtilis DB1342(p-3N46) seed culture was inoculated into fresh culture medium at 5% (v/v), followed by expression of CGA-N46 for 56 hours at 30°C induced by 2% (v/v) sucrose after one hour of shaking culture. To test optimal CGA-N46 peptide expression, the yeast growth inhibition assay was employed and it was found that under optimal culture conditions, CGA-N46 inhibited the growth of C. albican by 42.17%, 30.86% more than that in the pre-optimization conditions. In summary, RSM can be used to optimize expression conditions of CGA-N46 in engineered strains B. subtilis DB1342(p-3N46).

Transcriptome/degradome-wide identification of R. glutinosa miRNAs and their targets: the role of miRNA activity in the replanting disease.

Rehmannia glutinosa, a traditional Chinese medicine herb, is unable to grow normally in a soil where the same species has recently been cultivated. The biological basis of this so called "replanting disease" is unknown, but it may involve the action of microRNAs (miRNAs), which are known to be important regulators of plant growth and development. High throughput Solexa/Illumina sequencing was used to generate a transcript library of the R. glutinosa transcriptome and degradome in order to identify possible miRNAs and their targets implicated in the replanting disease. A total of 87,665 unigenes and 589 miRNA families (17 of which have not been identified in plants to date) was identified from the libraries made from a first year (FP) and a second year (SP) crop. A comparison between the FP and SP miRNAs showed that the abundance of eight of the novel and 295 of the known miRNA families differed between the FP and SP plants. Sequencing of the degradome sampled from FP and SP plants led to the identification of 165 transcript targets of 85 of the differentially abundant miRNA families. The interaction of some of these miRNAs with their target(s) is likely to form an important part of the molecular basis of the replanting disease of R. glutinosa.

Comprehensive study of cationic liposomes composed of DC-Chol and cholesterol with different mole ratios for gene transfection.

The ability of cationic liposomes composed of DC-Chol and cholesterol to carry pDNA into 293 T cells was investigated. Lipoplexes formed between DC-Chol/cholesterol liposomes and pDNA (encoding green fluorescent protein, GFP) were analyzed in terms of morphology observation, turbidity determination, particle size and zeta potential measurement, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), gel retardation assay, cytotoxicity analysis in 293 T cells and transfection efficiency. The results showed that liposome preparation at or above 66.7 mol% cholesterol in formulation exhibited a calorimetric transition caused by anhydrous cholesterol domain at about 41°C. In comparison with the control, DOPE-containing liposomes, DC-Chol/cholesterol carriers showed more stable particle size, lower turbidity, higher activity for transfecting cells in the presence of high concentration serum (50% FBS), primarily due to the neutral domain formation by increasing mole ratios of cholesterol in formulation, as well as relatively lower cytotoxicity. Based on the results, it is suggested that incorporating high contents of cholesterol might be a potentially applicable method for various kinds of cationic lipids to obtain the gene carriers with high capability for in vivo transfection.