A cationic antimicrobial peptide enhances the infectivity of Coxiella burnetii
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Updated: Aug 18, 2026

Generation and Multi-phenotypic High-content Screening of Coxiella burnetii Transposon Mutants
Published on: May 13, 2015
A S Aragon1, H A Pereira, O G Baca
1Biology Department, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque 8713-1091, USA.
Abstract:
Purified Coxiella burnetii (Nine Mile, phase I) ricketssiae were exposed to a synthetic peptide (CAP37(20-44)) based on the amino acid sequence of CAP37--a 37 K human neutrophil granule-associated cationic antimicrobial protein--and their capacity to infect L929 mouse fibroblast cells was assessed during a 10-day post-exposure period. Because the parasite thrives within the acidic phagolysosome we anticipated that CAP37(20-44) would have no adverse effect on the organism. This was borne out by the experiments; however, to our surprise, treated C. burnetii had a much greater capacity to infect L cells than the non-treated counterpart. We speculate that the peptide exhibits opsonin-like properties, enhancing attachment of the rickettsia to the host cell surface and subsequent entry.
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