Nisin

Abstract

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are small cationic peptides which protect their hosts against bacteria, protozoa, viruses, and fungi. Bacterial AMPs are called bacteriocins, and are produced by both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Because of their high potency and specificity, bacteriocins are considered as promising antimicrobial agents for different applications, including food preservation and infection treatment; specially the ones produced by acid lactic bacteria species (Gram-positive). Nisin is the most intensively studied and used bacteriocin, it is found commercially available and its use is regulated in over 50 countries. Therefore, special attention is given to this bacteriocin.

Last Call for Replacement of Antimicrobials in Animal Production: Modern Challenges, Opportunities, and Potential Solutions

“…Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are low-mass peptides with antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, and even antiparasitic effects [ 107 ]. They constitute a vast and extremely diverse group of molecules (more than 3000 different AMPs are known at present), which are also produced by various taxa, including vertebrates, invertebrates, microorganisms, and plants [ 108 , 109 ].…”

“…Their action is mainly based on antimicrobial activity, but some of them also have anticarcinogenic effects and act as modulators of the immune system or repellants produced by plants [ 110 ]. The main antimicrobial mechanism of AMPs is based on incorporation and irreversible damage to the microbial cell membrane, resulting in cell lysis [ 107 ]. Some peptides can act synergistically by damaging the cell membrane and, thus, allowing the entry of other types of AMPs that have receptors inside the cell [ 111 ].…”

“…AMPs are produced by both eukaryotes and prokaryotes, and those produced by bacteria are called bacteriocins [ 107 ]. Bacteriocins are characterized by a much greater specificity of action since their activity may be limited to only a few species of bacteria.…”

Characterization and in vitro Analysis of Probiotic-Derived Peptides Against Multi Drug Resistance Bacterial Infections

“…PBDM peptides showed high antibacterial activity against gram positive bacteria as seen in nisin peptides but in case of VRE and E. faecalis the activity of PBDM peptides needed higher concentrations for prominent antibacterial efficacy. However, PBDM not only showed activity against gram positive bacteria but also was effective against gram negative bacteria which were not seen in case of nisin peptides without any modification ( Jozala et al, 2015 ; Shin et al, 2016 ; Vukomanović et al, 2017 ; Fernández-Pérez et al, 2018 ). So, further in vitro studies using human cell lines to study toxicity and in vivo studies were performed to check the antibacterial activity and biocompatibility against infected balb/c mice.…”

“…Finally, the hemolytic effects of the PBDM peptides showed negligible hemolysis that is less than 9% at 40 μg/mL and lower concentration showed less than 4% in case of PBDM2 (20 μg/mL) and less than 1.5% for PBDM1 (20 μg/mL) which is very close to negative control (PBS) as shown in Figures 8C,D . But peptides like nisin have hemolysis at 1000-fold higher than its antimicrobial activity concentration ( Jozala et al, 2015 ). Usually peptides have higher percentage of hemolysis even in low concentration which makes them complicated for the actual application of medicine ( Sanches et al, 2015 ).…”