›› 2012, Vol. 55 ›› Issue (9): 1046-1053.doi:

• RESEARCH PAPERS • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Characterization of the antifungal peptide MAF-1 from the hemolymph of Musca domestica larvae and its antifungal activity

TU Tao-Tian, JI Heng-Qing, GUO Guo, FU Ping, WU Jian-Wei   

  • Received:2012-07-28 Revised:2012-09-09 Online:2012-09-20 Published:2012-09-20
  • Contact: WU Jian-Wei E-mail:wjw@gmc.edu.cn
  • About author:tuqian836@sohu.com

Abstract: To study the antifungal mechanism of Musca domestica antifungal peptide, MAF-1 was successfully prepared by solid phase extraction (SPE) and RPHPLC from the hemolymph of M. domestica larvae. MAF-1 exists mainly as α-helices and β-sheets in aqueous solution, as revealed by analysis of circular dichroism spectra. The results detected by scanning electron microscopy showed that the membranes of some Candida albicans fungi were depressed, shrinked and ruptured at 1 h after treatment with MAF-1. The results of single-cell gel electrophoresis showed that the “comet”-like cells were observed in the experimental group; however, typical round fungi were found in the normal control group. SDS-PAGE analysis showed that some protein bands were significantly weaker, the number of bands decreased and some bands even disappeared when C. albicans was treated with MAF-1. The results suggest that MAF-1 may have a unique antifungal mechanism.

Key words: Musca domestica, MAF-1, circular dichroism spectra, single-cell gel electrophoresis, antifungal mechanism