Mycobacterium kansasii Phagocytosis Inhibition by the Oligopeptides Derived from Systemine, Cecropin A and BRCT-1 Protein Sequences

In this work the results of investigations of the influence of three series of peptides on the inhibition of the Mycobacterium kansasii phagocytosis are presented. The peptides are the fragments of systemine (the plant signaling protein), antimicrobial peptide cecropine A, and the active fragment GRGDVVNGRG of the BRCT protein. It was found that KRDVY is a weaker inhibitor of phagocytosis than its analog RKDVY. Introduction of the sequence RDG in the place of RGD (present in cecropine A) decreases the antiphagocytic activity in comparison with the RGDVY peptide. Very interesting is a high biological activity of the palindromic peptide GRGNVVNGRG, while its parent peptide, indicated above, is inactive.