Journal article

Publication year: 2017

Pages: 8192-

Journal: Scientific Reports

Volume number: 7

ISSN: 2045-2322

eISSN: 2045-2322

Open access status: Gold

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-08407-x

Publisher: Nature Research

Abstract: 
Insect-derived antifungal peptides have a significant economic
potential, particularly for the engineering of pathogen-resistant crops.
However, the nonspecific antifungal activity of such peptides could
result in detrimental effects against beneficial fungi, whose
interactions with plants promote growth or increase resistance against
biotic and abiotic stress. The antifungal peptide metchnikowin (Mtk)
from Drosophila melanogaster acts selectively against pathogenic Ascomycota, including Fusarium graminearum, without affecting Basidiomycota such as the beneficial symbiont Piriformospora indica.
Here we investigated the mechanism responsible for the selective
antifungal activity of Mtk by using the peptide to probe a yeast
two-hybrid library of F. graminearum cDNAs. We found that Mtk
specifically targets the iron-sulfur subunit (SdhB) of
succinate–coenzyme Q reductase (SQR). A functional assay based on the
succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) activity of mitochondrial complex II
clearly demonstrated that Mtk inhibited the SDH activity of F. graminearum mitochondrial SQR by up to 52%, but that the equivalent enzyme in P. indica
was unaffected. A phylogenetic analysis of the SdhB family revealed a
significant divergence between the Ascomycota and Basidiomycota. SQR is
one of the key targets of antifungal agents and we therefore propose Mtk
as an environmentally sustainable and more selective alternative to
chemical fungicides.

Harvard Citation style: Bolouri Moghaddam, M., Gross, T., Becker, A., Vilcinskas, A. and Rahnamaeian, M. (2017) The selective antifungal activity of Drosophila melanogaster metchnikowin reflects the species-dependent inhibition of succinate–coenzyme Q reductase, Scientific Reports, 7, p. 8192. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-08407-x

APA Citation style: Bolouri Moghaddam, M., Gross, T., Becker, A., Vilcinskas, A., & Rahnamaeian, M. (2017). The selective antifungal activity of Drosophila melanogaster metchnikowin reflects the species-dependent inhibition of succinate–coenzyme Q reductase. Scientific Reports. 7, 8192. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-08407-x