Department of Chemistry, University of Padova, Via Marzolo 1, 35131 Padova, Italy.
Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, University of Padova, Viale dell'Università 16, 35020 Legnaro (Padova), Italy.
Int J Mol Sci. 2020 Oct 12;21(20):7521. doi: 10.3390/ijms21207521.
Fungal species belonging to the genus are commonly used as biocontrol agents against several crop pathogens. Among their secondary metabolites, peptaibols are helical, antimicrobial peptides, which are structurally stable even under extreme pH and temperature conditions. The promise of peptaibols as agrochemicals is, however, hampered by poor water solubility, which inhibits efficient delivery for practical use in crop protection. Using a versatile synthetic strategy, based on green chemistry procedures, we produced water-soluble analogs of the short-length peptaibol trichogin. Although natural trichogin was inactive against the tested fungal plant pathogens (, , , and ), three analogs completely inhibited fungal growth at low micromolar concentrations. The most effective peptides significantly reduced disease symptoms by on common bean and grapevine leaves and ripe grape berries without visible phytotoxic effects. An in-depth conformational analysis featuring a 3D-structure-activity relationship study indicated that the relative spatial position of cationic residues is crucial for increasing peptide fungicidal activity.
属于该属的真菌物种通常被用作几种作物病原菌的生物防治剂。在它们的次生代谢产物中,短肽是螺旋状的抗菌肽,即使在极端 pH 值和温度条件下,其结构也非常稳定。然而,由于肽类化合物的水溶性差,限制了其在作物保护中的有效传递,因此作为农用化学品的前景受到阻碍。本研究采用基于绿色化学程序的通用合成策略,生产了短肽类化合物 Trichogin 的水溶性类似物。尽管天然 Trichogin 对测试的真菌植物病原体(、、、和)没有活性,但三种类似物在低微摩尔浓度下完全抑制了真菌生长。最有效的肽类化合物在不产生可见植物毒性的情况下,使常见的豆类和葡萄叶片以及成熟的葡萄浆果上的病害症状分别减少了、和。深入的构象分析和 3D 结构-活性关系研究表明,阳离子残基的相对空间位置对于提高肽类化合物的杀菌活性至关重要。