Nicotiana alata Defensin Chimeras Reveal Differences in the Mechanism of Fungal and Tumor Cell Killing and an Enhanced Antifungal Variant.

ABSTRACT: The plant defensin NaD1 is a potent antifungal molecule that also targets tumor cells with a high efficiency. We examined the features of NaD1 that contribute to these two activities by producing a series of chimeras with NaD2, a defensin that has relatively poor activity against fungi and no activity against tumor cells. All plant defensins have a common tertiary structure known as a cysteine-stabilized α-β motif which consists of an α helix and a triple-stranded β-sheet stabilized by four disulfide bonds. The chimeras were produced by replacing loops 1 to 7, the sequences between each of the conserved cysteine residues on NaD1, with the corresponding loops from NaD2. The loop 5 swap replaced the sequence motif (SKILRR) that mediates tight binding with phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphat

SUBMITTER: Bleackley MR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5038239 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature