Occurrence of D-histidine residues in antimicrobial poly(arginyl-histidine), conferring resistance to enzymatic hydrolysis

The antimicrobial peptide poly(arginyl-histidine) is secreted by the ergot fungus Verticillium kibiense. We previously showed that poly(arginyl-histidine) from the fungus inhibits the growth of certain microorganisms more effectively than that chemically synthesized from the L-form of arginine and histidine, implying some substantial differences between the fungal and synthetic peptides. To elucidate what causes such differences, we here investigated the structural features of the fungal peptides. The acid hydrolysates of the fungal peptide contained D-histidine. When synthetic poly(L-arginyl-D-histidine) mimicking the fungal peptide was added to the culture of Salmonella typhimurium together with poly(L-arginyl-L-histidine), poly(L-arginyl-D-histidine) was not easily degraded during the incubation compared with poly(L-arginyl-L-histidine). We concluded that the D-form of histidine residues in the fungal peptide prolongs the life of the peptide leading to the enhancement of antimicrobial activity. (C) 2004 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.