Metal coordinating-induced self-assembly of cyclic lipopeptides into high-performance antimicrobial supramolecules.

This study designed a green hydrothermally-chelating approach to generate robust antimicrobial complexes via metal-coordinated supramolecular self-assembly of cyclic lipopeptides (CLs). The metal ion (Ca2+ and Zn2+)-coordinated CL (Ca/CL or Zn/CL complex; 1 mg/mL) demonstrated potent antibacterial activity against fungi (A. niger) and bacteria (E. coli and S. aureus) respectively, and in particular, completely suppressed the microbial resistance. Further physicochemical and spectal analysis showed that this coordination approach led to CL with enhanced hydrophobic and intermolecular electrostatic interactions, forming ß-sheet-rich secondary structures allowing the complexes easily contact with and destroy the membrane of microorganisms. Practical application experiments validated that the Ca/CL and Zn/CL complexes strongly avoided table grape and fresh tomato from the contamination of pathogen. The findings of this study laid foundation for the utilization of metal ions to improve the biological activity of natural antimicrobial peptides.

Effect of microsomal triglyceride transfer protein gene polymorphism in the promoter region on dyslipidemia in type 2 diabetic subjects.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship between microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP) gene variation and diabetic dyslipidemia among Chinese. METHODS: Using PCR restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis and gene sequencing, we studied the influence of a common MTP gene polymorphism in the promoter region on the apoB-containing lipoproteins in 44 Chinese type 2 diabetic subjects and 32 non-diabetic volunteers. RESULTS: A common functional G/T polymorphism in 493 bp upstream from the transcriptional start point was detected among native Chinese. There were 41 carriers (53.9%) of the MTP-493 G/G genotype, 28 (36.8%) of the MTP-493 G/T genotype and 7 (9.3%) of the MTP-493 T/T genotype. The allele frequency of MTP-493 T in the diabetic group was 0.30. The MTP-493 T/T diabetic group had significantly higher TG (P < 0.05), VLDL-CH (P < 0.05) and smaller LDL particle size (P < 0.001) than the MTP-493 common genotype group. CONCLUSION: Genetic variation in the MTP promoter is likely to be highly involved in the production of dyslipidemia in type 2 diabetic subjects.