Abstract: Expression of antifungal peptides from hemolymph of housefly larvae was studied after fungal, thermal and ultrasonic induction, and the survival rates of the larvae were compared between different induction treatments. The peptides were isolated with Sephadex G-50 filtration and HPLC, and their antifungal activity and molecular weight were detected. The results showed that the antifungal peptides in the hemolymph of larvae under three different induction treatments all had obvious antifungal activity to Candida albicans (strain 09) and Cryptococcus neoformans. The survival rates of the larvae of the fungal and thermal induction treatments were obviously lower than that of the control, while that of the ultrasonic induction treatment was not obviously different from that of the control. The antifungal peptide purified from the peptides obtained by the thermal induction still showed high antifungal activity, with its molecular weight less than 14.4 kD. The results suggested that thermal induction was an easy and efficient method to induce antifungal peptides in housefly.

Key words: Musca domestica, hemolymph, antifungal peptide, thermal induction