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This Article Full Text (Papers in Press[PDF]) All Versions of this Article: jmm.0.008128-0v1 58/7/923    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via CrossRef Google Scholar Articles by Thwaite, J. E Articles by Atkins, H. S. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Thwaite, J. E Articles by Atkins, H. S. Agricola Articles by Thwaite, J. E Articles by Atkins, H. S.

The cationic peptide magainin II is antimicrobial for Burkholderia cepacia complex strains

¹ dstl;

² University of Bristol;

³ Dstl;

⁴ University of Exeter

⁵ E-mail: hsatkins{at}dstl.gov.uk

Received November 19, 2008
Accepted March 11, 2009

This study was undertaken to determine the antibacterial activity of eight cationic antimicrobial peptides towards strains of genomovars I-V of Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc) in time-kill assays. All, but one, of the peptides failed to show activity against the panel of test strains. The exception was magainin II, a 23-amino acid peptide isolated from the epidermis of the African clawed frog Xenopus laevis, which exhibited significant bactericidal activity for Bcc genomovars most frequently associated with lung infection of patients with cystic fibrosis. In vitro studies indicated that magainin II protected a human bronchial epithelial cell line (BEAS-2B) from killing by B. cepacia complex and suggest that this peptide may have therapeutic potential against these organisms.