Production of pediocin by Chemical Synthesis and Bactericidal Mode of Action

To investigate the mode of bactericidal action for antimicrobial peptide, pediocin, synthetic and mutant pediocins were prepared by direct chemical synthesis. Native pediocin was purified from Pedio-coccus acidilactici M and its conformational structure and bactericidal functions were analyzed and compared to synthetic pediocin. Schematic mode of pediocin actions, how pediocin binds on the target cell membrane, penetrates and makes tunnel are proposed. For these purposes, primary and secondary structures of pediocin was analyzed and disulfide bond assignment was also done. The pediocin purified from P. acidilactici M had high effective bactericidal ability against gram positive bacteria, especially Listeria monocytogenes and was very stable at extreme pHs and even at high temperatures such as autoclaving temperature (121$^{\circ}C$). Pediocin was consisted of 44 amino acids with four cysteines. Novel synthetic peptides were achieved by solid phase peptide synthesis(SPPS) method. To explain the function of cysteine in C-terminal region, mutant pediocin, Ped[C24A＋C44A], was synthesized and their structural and biological functions were analyzed. Second mutant pediocin, Ped[KllE], was prepared to explain the function of lysine at 11 of N-terminal part of pediocin, especially loop of $\beta$-sheet, and to predict the initial binding site of pediocin. The native and synthetic pediocins was showed random coil conformation by spectropolarimetry in moderate conditions. This conformation was observed in extreme conditions such as high temperature and low and high pHs, also. Circular dichroism(CD) data also showed the existence of $\beta$-turn structure in N-terminal part both native and synthetic pediocins. A structural model for pediocin predicts that 18 amino acids in the N-terminal part of the peptide assume a three-strand $\beta$-sheet conformation. This random coil in C-terminal part of pediocin was converted to folding structure, helix structure, in nonpolar solvents such as alcohol and TFE. The disulfide bond between $^{9}$ Cys and $^{14}$ Cys was concrete and inevitable, however, evidences of disulfide bond between $^{24}$ Cys and $^{44}$ Cys was not. Data of Ped[C24A＋C44A], pediocin mutant showed that $^{44}$ Cys was required during killing the target cells but not inevitable, since Ped[C24A＋C44A] still have bactericidal activity but much less than native pediocin. Another pediocin mutant, Ped[KllE], had still bactericidal activity, was controversial to propose that positive charge like as $^{11}$ Lys in loop or hinge in bacteriocin bound or helped to binding to microorganism with electrostatic interaction between cell membrane especially teichoic acid and positive amino acid nonspecifically. The conformation of pediocin among native, synthetic and mutant pediocins did not show big difference. The conformations between oxidized and reduced pediocin were almost similar regardless of native or synthetic.