Insects respond to microbial infection by the rapid and transient expression of several genes encoding potent antimicrobial peptides. Herein we demonstrate that this antimicrobial response of Drosophila is not aspecific but can discriminate between various classes of microorganisms. We first observe that the genes encoding antibacterial and antifungal peptides are differentially expressed after...

1 Chronic Disease Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada 2 Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada 3 Nutrition Research Division, Health Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada 4 Atlantic Food and Horticulture Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Kentville, Nova Scotia, Canada 5 Department of Medicine, Uni...

Leishmaniases, which are important causes of morbidity and mortality in humans and dogs, are extremely difficult to treat. Antimicrobial peptides are rarely used as alternative treatments for naturally acquired parasitic diseases. Here we report that the acylated synthetic antimicrobial peptide Oct-CA(1-7)M(2-9) is safe and effective for treating naturally acquired canine leishmaniasis.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 Experimental evolution of resistance Q1 to an antimicrobial peptide Gabriel G. Perron, Michael Zasloff 2 and Graham Bell* Department of Biology, Mc Gill University, 1205 Ave Dr P...

The antimicrobial peptide maculatin 1.1 (M1.1) is an amphipathic α-helix that permeabilizes lipid bilayers. In coarse-grained molecular dynamics (CG MD) simulations, M1.1 has previously been shown to form membrane-spanning aggregates in DPPC bilayers. In this study, a simple multiscale methodology has been applied to allow sampling of important regions of the free energy surface at higher resol...

The importance of tick defensins is evidenced by their expression in a wide variety of tick tissues and prevalence across many tick genera. To date, the functional and biological significance of defensin-2 as a rickettsiastatic or rickettsiacidal antimicrobial peptide has not been addressed. In a previous study, defensin-2 transcription was shown to increase in Dermacentor variabilis ticks chal...

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) possess bactericidal activity against a variety of pathogens depending on an overall balance positively charged and hydrophobic residues. Selective fluorination serves to fine-tune the intrinsic hydrophobicity that could improve AMP bioactivity without affecting sequence length. Only few studies have focused impact this unique element antimicrobial potency came som...

Many neuropeptides and peptide hormones are very similar to antimicrobial peptides in their amino acid composition, amphipathic design, cationic charge and size. Their antimicrobial activities suggest they may also be directly involved in innate defense. Here we discuss recent advances in understanding how the mammalian nervous system, equipped with neuropeptides and peptide hormones with poten...