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The effect of antimicrobial peptides on Saccharomyces cerevisiae and other yeast species
Makarova, Anna-Marie ; Hodek, Petr (advisor) ; Malcová, Ivana (referee)
The increased use of antibiotics, antifungal agents and disinfectants in the last decades has resulted in development of microbial resistance to these drugs. Candida species are the fourth most common cause of hospital-acquired bloodstream infection and kill 40% of those patients. Natural antimicrobial peptides are promising candidates for the development of new agents to treat yeast and bacterial infections, as their presumed mechanism of action differs significantly from the mechanism of action of current drugs. This work is focused on several peptides isolated from the venom of wild bees and their synthetic analogues and the identification of the most effective ones against non-pathogenic Saccharomyces cerevisiae and several pathogenic Candida species. Antifungal activity of eight cationic antimicrobial peptides was tested and compared under various conditions. The overall susceptibility of pathogenic yeast species to currently used antifungal drugs and the antimicrobial peptides was screened with the aim to identify potential synergistic and species-specific effects. The effect of antimicrobial peptides on membrane potential was measured by a fluorescent probe (diS-C3(3)), and the relative hyperpolarization of plasma membrane was shown for each peptide. The effect of antimicrobial peptides on...
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Mechanisms and mode of action of essential oils on fungi
Ježková, Tereza ; Koukol, Ondřej (advisor) ; Čmoková, Adéla (referee)
Essential oils are volatile compounds from plants with a wide range of effects. Many of them exhibit antifungal activity. As the resistance of pathogenic fungi to antimycotics is increasing, finding new antifungal agents for the treatment of fungal infections is highly desirable. In order to use essential oils for the production of new drugs, it is necessary to know the exact mechanism of their action. Although it is known a lot about the effects of essential oils on fungi, the particular target in a cell is not always described. In this thesis I summarize the present knowledge about the mechanisms of actions on fungi. I gradually deal with effects of essential oils on cell wall, plasma membrane, mitochondrion, nucleus, quorum sensing, virulence factors, mycotoxin production and fungal development. Generally essential oils do not act on one structure but affect multiple structures and processes at the same time. In the last chapter I mention possible directions for further research of these substances. Key words: essential oils, fungi, antifungal activity, mechanism of action, mode of action
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The effect of antimicrobial peptides on Saccharomyces cerevisiae and other yeast species
Makarova, Anna-Marie ; Hodek, Petr (advisor) ; Malcová, Ivana (referee)
The increased use of antibiotics, antifungal agents and disinfectants in the last decades has resulted in development of microbial resistance to these drugs. Candida species are the fourth most common cause of hospital-acquired bloodstream infection and kill 40% of those patients. Natural antimicrobial peptides are promising candidates for the development of new agents to treat yeast and bacterial infections, as their presumed mechanism of action differs significantly from the mechanism of action of current drugs. This work is focused on several peptides isolated from the venom of wild bees and their synthetic analogues and the identification of the most effective ones against non-pathogenic Saccharomyces cerevisiae and several pathogenic Candida species. Antifungal activity of eight cationic antimicrobial peptides was tested and compared under various conditions. The overall susceptibility of pathogenic yeast species to currently used antifungal drugs and the antimicrobial peptides was screened with the aim to identify potential synergistic and species-specific effects. The effect of antimicrobial peptides on membrane potential was measured by a fluorescent probe (diS-C3(3)), and the relative hyperpolarization of plasma membrane was shown for each peptide. The effect of antimicrobial peptides on...
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Expression of osmotin, an antifungal protein from Nicotiana tabacum in Escherichia coli
Viktorová, J. ; Macková, M. ; Macek, Tomáš
Plants have evolved a huge variety of proteins involved in the defense against pathogens and adaptation to stressful environments. Plant proteins whose expression is strongly induced in response to infection by pathogens belong to the group of pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins. The family of PR-5 proteins constitutes a group of cysteine-rich proteins including thaumatin, zeamatin and also osmotin. Osmotin is a cationic protein of 205 residues and molecular weight of 24 kDa. It was discovered and characterized in cells of Nicotiana tabacum var. Wisconsin 38. The plasmid harbouring cDNA of osmotin from Nicotiana tabacum was constructed for transformation of Escherichia coli. The osmotin gene was prepared in fusion with histidine tail to facilitate the isolation and purification from bacterial cells. Selection of transgenic colonies was based on antibiotic resistance. The hexahistidine-tagged osmotin was overexpressed in heterologous system by using pET expression vector and purified using immobilized metal affinity chromatography. The expression of osmotin was detected and antifungal activity was tested.
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Isolation and study of the properties of recombinant pseudoosmotin
Richterová, K. ; Nováková, Martina ; Antošová, Z. ; Neubauerová, Tereza ; Macková, Martina
Antimicrobial peptides represent new clinical compounds with antimicrobial action and they could participate in solving the problem of ever-increasing resistance of microorganisms to the traditional antibiotics. The aim of this work was to study optimal conditions for expression, isolation and purification of recombinant pseudoosmotin from Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3). Pseudoosmotin was isolated from membrane fraction of bacteria and was purified by the affinity chromatography using Ni-NTA. Isolated pseudoosmotin did not show antimicrobial activity against studied microorganisms.
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