Tracheal antimicrobial peptide

Extracts of the bovine tracheal mucosa have an abundant peptide with potent antimicrobial activity. The 38-amino acid peptide, which we have named tracheal antimicrobial peptide (TAP), was isolated by a sequential use of size-exclusion, ion-exchange, and reverse-phase chromatographic fractionations using antimicrobial activity as a functional assay. The yield was approximately 2 micrograms/g of wet mucosa. The complete peptide sequence was determined by a combination of peptide and cDNA analysis. The amino acid sequence of TAP is H-Asn-Pro-Val-Ser-Cys-Val-Arg-Asn-Lys-Gly-Ile-Cys-Val-Pro-Ile-Arg-Cys-Pr o- Gly-Ser-Met-Lys-Gln-Ile-Gly-Thr-Cys-Val-Gly-Arg-Ala-Val-Lys-Cys-Cys-Arg- Lys-Lys - OH. Mass spectral analysis of the isolated peptide was consistent with this sequence and indicated the participation of six cysteine residues in the formation of intramolecular disulfide bonds. The size, basic charge, and presence of three intramolecular disulfide bonds is similar to, but clearly distinct from, the defensins, a well-characterized class of antimicrobial peptides from mammalian circulating phagocytic cells. The putative TAP precursor is predicted to be relatively small (64 amino acids), and the mature peptide resides at the extreme carboxyl terminus and is bracketed by a short putative propeptide region and an inframe stop codon. The mRNA encoding this peptide is more abundant in the respiratory mucosa than in whole lung tissue. The purified peptide had antibacterial activity in vitro against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumonia, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In addition, the peptide was active against Candida albicans, indicating a broad spectrum of activity. This peptide appears to be, based on structure and activity, a member of a group of cysteine-rich, cationic, antimicrobial peptides found in animals, insects, and plants. The isolation of TAP from the mammalian respiratory mucosa may provide insight into our understanding of host defense of this vital tissue.

Respiratory disease is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in cetaceans, which are also threatened by environmental degradation caused by crude oil spills. Following oil spills, cetaceans at the water surface may inhale droplets of oil containing toxic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which could potentially alter respiratory immunity via activation of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) and its subsequent interaction with nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB). β-defensins are antimicrobial peptides secreted by airway epithelial cells and their expression is known to be dependent on NF-κB. We hypothesized that PAHs may suppress the expression of β-defensins, and thereby contribute to the pathogenesis of pneumonia. This hypothesis was modeled by measuring the in vitro effects of benzo(a)pyrene (BAP), phenanthrene, and naphthalene on tracheal antimicrobial peptide (TAP) gene expression in bovine tracheal epithelial cells. Stimulation with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induced 20 ± 17-fold (mean ± SD) increased TAP gene expression. Exposure of tracheal epithelial cells to 5 μM BAP for 4 or 8 h, followed by incubation with a combination of LPS and 5 μM BAP for another 16 h, significantly (P = 0.002) suppressed LPS-induced TAP gene expression by 40.6 ± 21.8% (mean ± SD) in tracheal epithelial cells from 9 calves tested. BAP-induced suppression of TAP gene expression coincided with induction of cytochrome P450 1A1 gene expression. In contrast, phenanthrene and naphthalene had no consistent effect, and exposure to PAHs did not significantly affect constitutive TAP gene expression (i.e. without LPS). These findings characterize the suppressive effects of BAP-a toxic pollutant found in crude oil-on this respiratory innate immune response.

Bovine mastitis is perplexing the dairy industry since the initiation of intensive dairy farming, which has caused a reduction in the productivity of cows and an escalation in costs. The use of antibiotics causes a series of problems, especially the formation of bacterial antimicrobial resistance. However, there are limited antibiotic-free therapeutic strategies that can effectively relieve bacterial infection of bovine mammary glands. Hence, in this study, we constructed a mammary gland tissue-specific expression vector carrying the antimicrobial peptide of bovine-derived tracheal antimicrobial peptide (TAP) and evaluated it in both primary bovine mammary epithelial cells (pBMECs) and mice. The results showed that the vector driven by the β-lactoglobulin gene (BLG) promoter could efficiently direct the expression of TAP in pBMECs and the mammary gland tissue of mice. In addition, significant antibacterial effects were observed in both in vitro and in vivo experiments when introducing this vector to bovine-associated Staphylococcus aureus-treated pBMECs and mice, respectively. This study demonstrated that the mammary gland tissue-specific expression vector could be used to introduce antimicrobial peptide both in in vitro and in vivo and will provide a new therapeutic strategy in the treatment of bovine mastitis.