Lunatusin, a trypsin-stable antimicrobial peptide from lima beans (Phaseolus lunatus L.)

An anti-fungal peptide designated as lunatusin, with a molecular mass around 7 kDa, was purified from the seeds of Chinese lima bean (Phaseolus lunatus L.). The peptide was isolated using a simple protocol consisting of affinity chromatography on Affi-gel blue gel and gel filtration on Superdex 75. Lunatusin exerted an anti-fungal activity toward fungal species such as Fusarium oxysporum, Mycosphaerella arachidicola and Botrytis cinerea, and an antibacterial action on, Bacillus megaterium, Bacillus subtilis, Proteus vulgaris and Mycobacterium phlei. It also inhibited proliferation in the breast cancer cell line MCF-7. Lunatusin reduced the activity of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase and it also inhibited translation in a cell-free rabbit reticulocyte lysate system. Its anti-fungal activity was retained after incubation with trypsin. Lunatusin elicited a mitogenic response from mouse splenocytes.