Bactericidal Properties of Proline-Rich Aedes aegypti Trypsin Modulating Oostatic Factor ( Aea TMOF).

The antimicrobial properties of proline-rich decapeptide TMOF (TMOF) and oncocin112 (1-13) were compared. Incubations with multidrug-resistant cells showed that TMOF (5 mM) was able to completely inhibit bacterial cell growth, whereas oncocin112 (1-13) (20 mM) partially inhibited bacterial growth as compared with bacterial cells that were not multidrug-resistant cells. TMOF (5 mM) was very effective against and , completely inhibiting cell growth during 15 h incubations. TMOF (5 mM) completely inhibited the Gram-positive bacteria and sups. cell growth, whereas oncocin112 (1-13) (10 and 20 mM) failed to affect bacterial cell growth. cells that lack the SbmA transporter were inhibited by TMOF (5 mM) and not by oncocin112 (1-13) (10 to 20 mM), indicating that TMOF can use other bacterial transporters than SbmA that is mainly used by proline-rich antimicrobial peptides. Incubation of cells with NaAzide showed that TMOF does not use ABC-like transporters that use ATP hydrolysis to import molecules into bacterial cells. Three-dimensional modeling and docking of AeaTMOF to SbmA and MdtM transporters showed that TMOF can bind these proteins, and the binding location of AeaTMOF inside these protein transporters allows TMOF to be transported into the bacterial cytosol. These results show that TMOF can be used as a future antibacterial agent against both multidrug-resistant Gram-positive and -negative bacteria.