BACKGROUND: , a UV and gamma radiation-tolerant bacterium, was reported to have superior antibacterial activities against a variety of pathogenic bacteria through the production of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), but nothing is known about its AMPs.
METHODS/RESULTS: In this study, our genomic and transcriptomic data showed that the genome contains 11 gene candidates, designated as NB_AMP1 to NB_AMP11, which are expressed differently in logarithmic growth and stationary phase. Moreover, the cell-free supernatant of all DH5α strains containing cloned except for NB_AMP5 and NB_AMP7 exhibited antibacterial activities against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria such as and . Synthetic AMPs supported the antibacterial activities of cloned , and, in particular, the synthetic NB_AMP2 showed superior antibacterial activities against both and .
CONCLUSIONS: Altogether, these results suggest that the candidates from may function as antimicrobial peptides, effectively causing cellular lysis through pore formation in the bacterial membrane.
