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New Antimicrobial Potential and Structural Properties of PAFB: A Cationic, Cysteine-Rich Protein from Penicillium chrysogenum Q176.

ABSTRACT: Small, cysteine-rich and cationic proteins with antimicrobial activity are produced by diverse organisms of all kingdoms and represent promising molecules for drug development. The ancestor of all industrial penicillin producing strains, the ascomycete Penicillium chryosgenum Q176, secretes the extensively studied antifungal protein PAF. However, the genome of this strain harbours at least two more genes that code for other small, cysteine-rich and cationic proteins with potential antifungal activity. In this study, we characterized the pafB gene product that shows high similarity to PgAFP from P. chrysogenum R42C. Although abundant and timely regulated pafB gene transcripts were detected, we could not identify PAFB in the culture broth of P. chrysogenum Q176. Therefore, we applied a P. chrysogenum-based expression system to produce sufficient amounts of recombinant PAFB to address unanswered questions concerning the structure and antimicrobial function. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based analyses revealed a compact ?-folded structure, comprising five ?-strands connected by four solvent exposed and flexible loops and an "abcabc" disulphide bond pattern. We identified PAFB as an inhibitor of growth of human pathogenic moulds and yeasts. Furthermore, we document for the first time an anti-viral activity for two members of the small, cysteine-rich and cationic protein group from ascomycetes.

SUBMITTER: Huber A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5788923 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

New Antimicrobial Potential and Structural Properties of PAFB: A Cationic, Cysteine-Rich Protein from Penicillium chrysogenum Q176.

Huber Anna A Hajdu Dorottya D Bratschun-Khan Doris D Gáspári Zoltán Z Varbanov Mihayl M Philippot Stéphanie S Fizil Ádám Á Czajlik András A Kele Zoltán Z Sonderegger Christoph C Galgóczy László L Bodor Andrea A Marx Florentine F Batta Gyula G

Scientific reports 20180129 1

Small, cysteine-rich and cationic proteins with antimicrobial activity are produced by diverse organisms of all kingdoms and represent promising molecules for drug development. The ancestor of all industrial penicillin producing strains, the ascomycete Penicillium chryosgenum Q176, secretes the extensively studied antifungal protein PAF. However, the genome of this strain harbours at least two more genes that code for other small, cysteine-rich and cationic proteins with potential antifungal act ...[more]

PMID: 29379111

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Project description:BACKGROUND:Small, cysteine-rich and cationic antifungal proteins (APs) from filamentous ascomycetes, such as NFAP from Neosartorya fischeri and PAF from Penicillium chrysogenum, are promising candidates for novel drug development. A prerequisite for their application is a detailed knowledge about their structure-function relation and mode of action, which would allow protein modelling to enhance their toxicity and specificity. Technologies for structure analyses, such as electronic circular dichroism (ECD) or NMR spectroscopy, require highly purified samples and in case of NMR milligrams of uniformly 15N-/13C-isotope labelled protein. To meet these requirements, we developed a P. chrysogenum-based expression system that ensures sufficient amount and optimal purity of APs for structural and functional analyses. RESULTS:The APs PAF, PAF mutants and NFAP were expressed in a P. chrysogenum ?paf mutant strain that served as perfect microbial expression factory. This strain lacks the paf-gene coding for the endogenous antifungal PAF and is resistant towards several APs from other ascomycetes. The expression of the recombinant proteins was under the regulation of the strong paf promoter, and the presence of a paf-specific pre-pro sequence warranted the secretion of processed proteins into the supernatant. The use of defined minimal medium allowed a single-step purification of the recombinant proteins. The expression system could be extended to express PAF in the related fungus Penicillium digitatum, which does not produce detectable amounts of APs, demonstrating the versatility of the approach. The molecular masses, folded structures and antifungal activity of the recombinant proteins were analysed by ESI-MS, ECD and NMR spectroscopy and growth inhibition assays. CONCLUSION:This study demonstrates the implementation of a paf promoter driven expression cassettes for the production of cysteine-rich, cationic, APs in different Penicillium species. The system is a perfect tool for the generation of correctly folded proteins with high quality for structure-function analyses.

Dataset Information

New Antimicrobial Potential and Structural Properties of PAFB: A Cationic, Cysteine-Rich Protein from Penicillium chrysogenum Q176.

Publications

New Antimicrobial Potential and Structural Properties of PAFB: A Cationic, Cysteine-Rich Protein from Penicillium chrysogenum Q176.

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