We report the isolation and characterization of a novel human peptide with antimicrobial activity, termed LEAP-1 (liver-expressed antimicrobial peptide). Using a mass spectrometric assay detecting cysteine-rich peptides, a 25-residue peptide containing four disulfide bonds was identified in human blood ultrafiltrate. LEAP-1 expression was predominantly detected in the liver, and, to a much lower extent, in the heart. In radial diffusion assays, Gram-positive Bacillus megaterium, Bacillus subtilis, Micrococcus luteus, Staphylococcus carnosus, and Gram-negative Neisseria cinerea as well as the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae dose-dependently exhibited sensitivity upon treatment with synthetic LEAP-1. The discovery of LEAP-1 extends the known families of mammalian peptides with antimicrobial activity by its novel disulfide motif and distinct expression pattern. ß

A gene encoding glucose dehydrogenase of Bacillus megaterium M1286 was isolated from a λ‐EMBL3 phage library. It is transcribed and translated in cells of the heterologous organism Escherichia coli by own control regions. The gene is located on a 1126‐bp HindIII fragment. Its nucleotide sequence contains 220 bp in the 5′ non‐coding region, 783 bp in the coding region and 123 bp in the 3′ non‐coding region. The amino acid sequence, as deduced from the coding region, consists of 261 amino acids and is different from the known protein sequence of glucose dehydrogenase from B. megaterium M1286. [Jany, K. D., Ulmer, W., Fröschle, M. & Pfleiderer, G. (1984) FEBS Lett. 165, 6–10]. By using this gene as a hybridization probe a second glucose dehydrogenase gene was isolated, which was also directly expressed in E. coli. Additionally a DNA region with extended sequence homology to the hybridization probe was identified. This work indicates the existence of at least two independent glucose dehydrogenase genes in B. megaterium M1286. Homologies in the primary structures of the two different glucose dehydrogenases of B. megaterium M1286 and of the corresponding Bacillus subtilis enzyme are discussed.

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