A novel antifungal hevein-type peptide from Triticum kiharae seeds with a unique 10-cysteine motif.

Two forms of a novel antimicrobial peptide (AMP), named WAMP-1a and WAMP-1b, that differ by a single C-terminal amino acid residue and belong to a new structural type of plant AMP were purified from seeds of Triticum kiharae Dorof. et Migusch. Although WAMP-1a and WAMP-1b share similarity with hevein-type peptides, they possess 10 cysteine residues arranged in a unique cysteine motif which is distinct from those described previously for plant AMPs, but is characteristic of the chitin-binding domains of cereal class I chitinases.