The family of antimicrobial peptide, cathelicidins, which plays important roles against infections in animals, has been identified from many species. Here, we identified a novel avian cathelicidin ortholog from ducks and named dCATH. The cDNA sequence of dCATH encodes a predicted 146-amino-acid polypeptide composed of a 17-residue signal peptide, a 109-residue conserved cathelin domain and a 20-residue mature peptide. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that dCATH is highly divergent from other avian peptides. The α-helical structure of the peptide exerted strong antimicrobial activity against a broad range of bacteria in vitro, with most minimum inhibitory concentrations in the range of 2 to 4 μM. Moreover, dCATH also showed cytotoxicity, lysing 50% of mammalian erythrocytes in the presence or absence of 10% fetal calf serum at concentrations of 32 μM or 20 μM and killing 50% HaCaT cells at a concentration of 10 μM. The effects on bacterial outer and inner membranes, as examined by scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscopy, indicate that dCATH kills microbial cells by increasing permeability, causing a loss of membrane integrity.

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Abstract. Fowlicidins are a group of cathelicidin antimicrobial peptides that were initially identified in chickens. Fowlicidin-2, which is composed of 31 amino acids, is widely expressed in the majority of tissues in chickens and has an important role in innate immunity. In the present study, a recombinant expression system for fowlicidin-2 was successfully constructed using Pichia pastoris X-33 and the expression vector pPICZα-A. Under the optimized fermentation conditions, 85.6 mg fowlicidin-2 with >95% purity was obtained from 1 liter culture medium following purification by ion exchange chromatography and reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography. The recombinant fowlicidin-2 exhibited broad spectrum antimicrobial activity and had a minimum inhibitory concentration ranging from 1 to 4 µM. Furthermore, recombinant fowlicidin-2 exhibited hemolytic activity, promoting 50% human erythrocyte hemolysis in the concentration range of 128-256 µM, and anticancer activity, resulting in the death of 50% of A375 human malignant melanoma cells in the concentration range of 2-4 µM. The results of the present study suggest that recombinant fowlicidin-2 may be a promising candidate for therapeutic applications.

The antimicrobial peptide fowlicidin-2 identified in chicken is a member of the cathelicidins family. The mature fowlicidin-2 possesses high antibacterial efficacy and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) neutralizing activity, and also represents an excellent candidate as an antimicrobial agent. In the present study, the recombinant fowlicidin-2 was successfully produced by Escherichia coli (E. coli) recombinant expression system. The gene encoding fowlicidin-2 with the codon preference of E. coli was designed through codon optimization and synthesized in vitro. The gene was then ligated into the plasmid pET-32a(+), which features fusion protein thioredoxin at the N-terminal. The recombinant plasmid was transformed into E. coli BL21(DE3) and cultured in Luria-Bertani (LB) medium. After isopropyl-β-D-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG) induction, the fowlicidin-2 fusion protein was successfully expressed as inclusion bodies. The inclusion bodies were dissolved and successfully released the peptide in 70% formic acid solution containing cyanogen bromide (CNBr) in a single step. After purification by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC), ∼6.0 mg of fowlicidin-2 with purity more than 97% was obtained from 1 litre of bacteria culture. The recombinant peptide exhibited high antibacterial activity against the Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, and even drug-resistant strains. This system could be used to rapidly and efficiently produce milligram quantities of a battery of recombinant antimicrobial peptides as well as for large-scale production.