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Updated: May 27, 2026

Antimicrobial Peptides Produced by Selective Pressure Incorporation of Non-canonical Amino Acids
Published on: May 4, 2018
The cathelicidin-like peptide derived from panda genome is a potential antimicrobial peptide
Xiuwen Yan1, Jian Zhong, Huan Liu
1Life Sciences College of Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, Jiangsu, China.
Abstract:
A novel cathelicidin-like antimicrobial peptide was identified by mining genome of panda. This peptide (cathelicidin-AM) was synthesized. It showed potential antimicrobial activities against wide spectrum of microorganisms including Gram-negative and -positive bacteria, and fungi. It had similar antimicrobial abilities against both standard and clinically isolated drug-resistant strains. Cathelicidin-AM could rapidly exert its antibacterial activities. It just took less than 1h to kill all Staphylococcus sciuri at the concentration of 2, 4 or 10 times of minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) while clindamycin took 6h. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis indicated that cathelicidin-AM killed bacteria by directly affecting bacterial cell wall and membrane. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the panda cathelicidin had the nearest evolution relationship with dog cathelicidin. The current work provides a novel cathelicidin-like peptide with strong antimicrobial abilities.
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