From seeds of Aesculus hippocastanum, Clitoria ternatea, Dahlia merckii and Heuchera sanguinea five antifungal proteins were isolated and shown to be homologous to plant defensins previously characterised from radish seeds and ~/-thionins from Poaceae seeds. Based on the spectrum of their antimicriobial activity and the morphological distortions they induce on fungi the peptides can be divided into two classes. The peptides did not inhibit any of three different a-amylases.

Four closely related peptides were isolated from seed of Impatiens balsamina and were shown to be inhibitory to the growth of a range of fungi and bacteria, while not being cytotoxic to cultured human cells. The peptides, designated Ib-AMP1, Ib-AMP2, Ib-AMP3, and Ib-AMP4, are 20 amino acids long and are the smallest plant-derived antimicrobial peptides isolated to date. The IbAMPs (I. balsamina antimicrobial peptides) are highly basic and contain four cysteine residues which form two intramolecular disulfide bonds. Searches of protein data bases have failed to identify any proteins with significant homology to the peptides described here. Characterization of isolated cDNAs reveals that all four peptides are encoded within a single transcript. The predicted Ib-AMP precursor protein consists of a prepeptide followed by 6 mature peptide domains, each flanked by propeptide domains ranging from 16 to 35 amino acids in length. Such a primary structure with repeated alternating basic mature peptide domains and acidic propeptide domains has, to date, not been reported in plants.

A liquid chromatography method was developed for the determination of antifungal/antimicrobial proteins Rs-AFP1 and Dm-AMP1 in sandy loam soils. The extraction of these highly basic proteins was achieved by mechanical shaking with aqueous Tris buffer pH 9 containing guanidinium thiocyanate salt (4.1 M), EDTA and nonionic polyoxyethylene 20 cetyl ether, Brij-58 detergent. The extracts were cleaned up on Oasis HLB polymer solid-phase extraction cartridges and quantified by liquid chromatography fluorescence detection based on the fluorescence properties of the tryptophan content of these proteins. The detector response was linear for 0.3-10 microg mL(-1). Procedural recoveries were tested in the range 10-100 mg kg(-1). The limit of quantification was 10 mg kg(-1 )protein in the soil sample representing the lowest validated fortification level. The antifungal proteins were found to be stable in soil extract tested up to 9 days when stored at 4 degrees C.

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