Biotechnol Lett. 2006 Jun 23; [Epub ahead of print]

Fungicidal and Cytotoxic Activity of a Capsicum chinense Defensin Expressed by Endothelial Cells.

Anaya-Lopez JL, Lopez-Meza JE, Baizabal-Aguirre VM, Cano-Camacho H, Ochoa-Zarzosa A.

Centro Multidisciplinario de Estudios en Biotecnologia, Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolas de Hidalgo, Apdo. Postal 53, Administracion Chapultepec, C.P. 58262, Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico, ochoaz@zeus.umich.mx.

Plant defensins are antimicrobial peptides that exhibit mainly antifungal activity against a broad range of plant fungal pathogens. However, their actions against Candida albicans have not been extensively studied. The mRNA for gamma-thionin, a defensin from Capsicum chinense, has been expressed in bovine endothelial cells. The conditioned medium of these cells showed antifungal activity on germ tube formation (60-70% of inhibition) and on the viability of C. albicans (70-80% of inhibition). Additionally, C. albicans was not able to penetrate transfected cells. Conditioned medium from these cells also inhibited the viability (80%) of the human tumor cell line, HeLa.

PMID: 16794772 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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