Abalone is a valuable seafood in the aquaculture industry worldwide as it is rich in protein. However, to date, research on the functional proteins of abalone is lacking. Herein, we report two peptides with antibacterial activity from
Nordotis discus discus. The purification of peptides was performed by solvent extraction, ultrafiltration, and reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography. The N-terminal amino acid sequences of the isolated antibacterial peptides, named as Nod1 and Nod2, were identified by Edman degradation and did not show any similarity to other proteins and peptides in databases based on results of BLAST homology analysis. Molecular masses of Nod1 and Nod2 were 6145.06 and 6360.07 Da, respectively, as determined by mass spectrometric analysis. The two peptides displayed pH-dependent antibacterial activity against various bacteria that was more potent at pH 5.4 than pH 7.4, but they did not inhibit fungal growth at either pH levels. Their antibacterial activity was due to membranolytic action, which was assayed by SYTOX-green uptake. In addition, both peptides were virtually noncytolytic for human erythrocytes and mammalian cells.
Keywords:
abalone; antibacterial peptide; pH-dependent; membranolytic action; marine invertebrate