Rationale design of quorum-quenching peptides that target the VirSR system of Clostridium perfringens.

FEMS Microbiol Lett

Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture, Graduate School, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan

Published: November 2015

AI Article Synopsis

  • - In Clostridium perfringens, a specific 5-membered thiolactone peptide (AIPCp) activates a signal system (VirSR) that regulates the production of various toxins, including alpha, theta, and kappa toxins.
  • - Researchers designed new peptides aimed at disrupting this signaling process (quorum-quenching peptides) using data on how AIPCp works, focusing on key amino acids involved in receptor interaction.
  • - The two newly created peptides, Z-AIPCp-L2A/T5A (a partial agonist) and Z-AIPCp-F4A/T5S (a partial antagonist), effectively reduced the production of the theta toxin gene (pfoA) in a harmful strain

Article Abstract

In Clostridium perfringens, a 5-membered thiolactone peptide acts as an autoinducing peptide (AIPCp) to activate the VirSR two-component signal transduction system, which in turn controls the expression of genes encoding multiple toxins, including α, θ and κ. To develop anti-pathogenic agents against virulent C. perfringens, quorum-quenching peptides were rationally designed based on the structure-activity relationship (SAR) data on AIPCp. Alanine scanning study of AIPCp suggested that Trp(3) and Phe(4) are involved in receptor binding and activation, respectively. On the basis of the SAR, we designed two quorum-quenching peptides with different modes of action: Z-AIPCp-L2A/T5A (partial agonist) and Z-AIPCp-F4A/T5S (partial antagonist). Both peptides significantly attenuated transcription of θ toxin gene (pfoA) in a virulent strain of C. perfringens with IC50 = 0.32 and 0.72 μM, respectively.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/femsle/fnv188DOI Listing

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