Investigation of the antimicrobial activities of Snakin-Z, a new cationic peptide derived fromZizyphus jujubafruits

Abstract

Snakin-Z is a novel antimicrobial peptide (AMP) that is identified from the fruit of Zizyphus jujuba. This peptide is composed of 31 amino acids which is determined with the sequence of CARLNCVPKGTSGNTETCPCYASLHSCRKYG and molecular weight of 3318.82 Da. Snakin-Z is not identical to any AMP in the peptide database. According to this study, Snakin-Z potentially has antimicrobial property against bacteria and fungi. Minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) value of this peptide is suitable for antimicrobial activity. We assessed that Snakin-Z could affect Phomopsis azadirachtae with the MIC value of 7.65 μg/mL and vice versa Staphylococcus aureus with the MIC value of 28.8 μg/mL. Interestingly, human red blood cells also showed good tolerance to the Snakin-Z. On the basis of this study, Snakin-Z can be an appropriate candidate for therapeutic applications in the future due to its antimicrobial property.

Natural Antifungal Peptides/Proteins as Model for Novel Food Preservatives

“…and A. niger (IC 50 = 1 to 20 µm). Other snakins, such as a 64-residue homolog of StSN2 identified in French bean or snakin Z isolated from Jujuba fruits, are active against A. niger (Daneshmand, Zare-Zardini, & Ebrahimi, 2013). Another 66-residue snakin-2 (Sn2) found in tomato shows a broad-spectrum activity, including against S. cerevisiae (MIC = 4.25 µM).…”

Untitled

“…Snakin-Z peptide composed of 31 amino acid with molecular weight 3318.82Da from the fruit of Zizyphus jujube showed antimicrobial activity against bacteria and fungi whereas it was found to be ineffective against human red blood cells 93 . This indicated that Snakin -Z could be a suitable candidate of antimicrobial peptides for therapeutic applications.…”

Antimicrobial Peptides from Fruits and Their Potential Use as Biotechnological Tools—A Review and Outlook

“…Additionally to this classification, several classes of plant AMPs can also be divided by properties, such as covalent bonding patterns, hydrophobicity, net charge, or molecular targets (Wang, 2015). Among several different plant AMP classes, in fruits it is possible to detect (I) defensins (Meyer et al, 1996; Guzmán-Rodríguez et al, 2013; Seo et al, 2014), (II) lipid transfer proteins (LTPs) (Zottich et al, 2011), (III) glycine rich protein (Pelegrini et al, 2008), (IV) 2S albumin (Pelegrini et al, 2006; Ribeiro et al, 2011), (V) snakin (Daneshmand et al, 2013), (VI) napin (Da Silva Dantas et al, 2014), and (VII) and other fruit AMPs (Table 1). …”

“…Snakin-Z AMP, isolated from Z. jujuba , is 31 amino acid residues in length and has better activity againt fungi than bacteria (Terras et al, 1992; Thevissen et al, 1999; Selitrennikoff, 2001; Tran et al, 2002; Manners, 2009). Among bacteria, its action is stronger against Gram-negative than Gram-positive bacteria (Daneshmand et al, 2013). …”

“…Among these are the peptide Cn -AMP1, considered multifunctional and promiscuous, presenting antibacterial and antifungal activity, also being capable to reduce the viability of tumor cells (Mandal et al, 2009; Silva et al, 2012; Santana et al, 2015). Another example is the peptides isolated from Z. jujuba fruits, with both antibacterial and antifungal properties against S. aureus and Phomopsis azadirachtae , respectively (Daneshmand et al, 2013). Extracts from fruits have also shown other activities, among these being antioxidant activity in the extract purified from Z. jujuba , which showed that some fractions can prevent oxidative reactions and are underutilized for preserving food and medicinal purposes (Yazdi et al, 2013).…”