Recombinant production of cathelicidin-derived antimicrobial peptides in Escherichia coli using an inducible autocleaving enzyme tag.

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), such as the linear amphipathic cathelicidins, are produced widely in the natural world and are active against a broad range of pathogenic microorganisms. Their potential as a new range of antibiotics has prompted numerous studies of AMP structure and function. Most such studies are performed with chemically synthesised peptides, but a simple and rapid biosynthetic route would offer a more cost-effective alternative for the production of AMPs and analysis of their structure/function relationships. The cysteine protease domain (CPD) from Vibrio cholerae MARTX toxin possesses an autocleaving ability that is inducible by inositol hexakisphosphate (IP(6)). When coupled with a hexa-histidine tag and fused to the C-terminus of an AMP, this AMP-CPD fusion may be expressed in Escherichia coli and purified using immobilized metal affinity chromatography. A brief on-column induction of cleavage liberates the AMP, and subsequent polishing using hydrophobic interaction resin allows for purification of the peptide within a day. We used this system to express and purify several 18-residue cathelicidin variants and tested their activity on E. coli, Pseudomonas putida, Bacillus subtilis and Candida albicans. This approach to linear AMP production may aid rapid construction and purification of structural variants for subsequent functional analysis.