Halocynin - Novel Antimicrobial Peptide from the Hemocytes of Korean Ascidian,

Recently , it has been confirmed that the hemocytes in Halocynthia roretzi contain copious amounts of antimicrobial cationic peptides. We isolated and purified the major peptides from acid extracts of hemocytes, and temporarily named as halocynin . In vitro antimicrobial assays, it has been proved that halocynin has potent antimicrobial activities against Gram (-), (+) bacteria and fungus Candida albicans. Unlike clavanins, antimicrobial peptides that were originally found in protochordata Styela clava, halocynin probably has more cationic amino acids such as Arg and Lys. Accodingly, the antimicrobial activities of halocynin could retain at neutral pH From Tricine SDS-PAGE analysis , the molecular mass is estimated as around 4 kDa . A s the antimicrobial activities of halocynin against Escherichia coli, Bacillus megaterium and Cand ida albicans was compared with those of clavanin AK , Halocynin showed more potent activities than clavanin AK