Showing papers by "Karin Thevissen published in 2007"
TL;DR: Their mode of action, involving interaction with fungus-specific sphingolipids, and heterologous expression, required for cost-effective production, are major assets for development of plant and insect defensins as antifungal leads.
163 citations
TL;DR: These data point to the presence of an intracellular plant defensin-induced signaling cascade, which involves ROS generation and leads to fungal cell growth arrest, and the antioxidant ascorbic acid blocks Rs AFP2-induced ROS generation, as well as RsAFP2 antifungal activity.
Abstract: RsAFP2 ( Raphanus sativus antifungal peptide 2), an antifungal plant defensin isolated from seed of R. sativus , interacts with glucosylceramides (GlcCer) in membra
156 citations
TL;DR: It is demonstrated that miconazole induces changes in the actin cytoskeleton, indicative of increased filament stability, prior to ROS induction, which provides novel mechanistic insights in the mode of action of a ROS-inducing azole.
64 citations
TL;DR: A functional homology is demonstrated, next to the already known structural homology, between defensins originating from different eukaryotic kingdoms, for the first time that this is specifically demonstrated for plant and mammaliandefensins.
Abstract: Human beta-defensin-2 (hBD-2) is a small antimicrobial peptide with potent activity against different Gram-negative bacteria and fungal/yeast species. Since human beta-defensins and plant defensins share structural homology, we set out to analyse whether there also exists a functional homology between these defensins of different eukaryotic kingdoms. To this end, we constructed a plant transformation vector harbouring the hBD-2 coding sequence, which we transformed to Arabidopsis thaliana plants, giving rise to A. thaliana plants indeed expressing hBD-2. Furthermore, we could demonstrate that this heterologously produced hBD-2 possesses antifungal activity in vitro. Finally, we could show that hBD-2 expressing A. thaliana plants are more resistant against the broad-spectrum fungal pathogen Botrytis cinerea as compared to untransformed A. thaliana plants, and that this resistance is correlated with the level of active hBD-2 produced in these transgenic plants. Hence, we demonstrated a functional homology, next to the already known structural homology, between defensins originating from different eukaryotic kingdoms. To our knowledge, this is the first time that this is specifically demonstrated for plant and mammalian defensins.
42 citations
1 citations
Journal Article•
1 citations