Synthetic porcine lactoferricin with a 20-residue peptide exhibits antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Candida albicans.

Lactoferricins are positively charged, highly basic peptides that are generated upon gastric pepsin cleavage of various lactoferrins. In the past decade, there has been active investigation of the key antimicrobial segments of the various shorter synthetic bovine and human lactoferricins, but not in porcine lactoferricin. These studies have demonstrated the distinct solution structures of lactoferricin in bovine and human and established the multifunctional nature of the antibacterial, antifungal, antiendotoxin, and antiviral activities of lactoferricins. However, the protective effects of porcine lactoferricins have yet to be elucidated. In the present study, a series of synthetic derivatives of porcine, bovine, and human lactoferricins with 20-residue and 9-residue peptides were prepared to investigate their antimicrobial nature. We found that the 20-residue porcine lactoferricin (LFcin P-20) displayed antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli ATCC25922, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC25923, and Candida albicans ATCC14053. The minimal inhibitory concentrations and minimal bactericidal concentrations of LFcin P-20 ranged from 12 to 25 microM when tested in bacteria and fungi. LFcin P-20 was 4 times more effective than human lactoferricin (LFcin H-20), but slightly less effective than bovine lactoferricin (LFcin B-20).