Biotechnology Bulletin ›› 2017, Vol. 33 ›› Issue (9): 56-63.doi: 10.13560/j.cnki.biotech.bull.1985.2017-0354

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Research Progress on Antibacterial Mechanism of Lactoferrin

PEI Jie,CHU Min,BAO Peng-jia,YAN Ping,GUO Xian   

  1. Key Laboratory of Yak Breeding Project in Gansu Province,Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences,Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences,Lanzhou 730050
  • Received:2017-05-03 Online:2017-09-01 Published:2017-09-15

Abstract:

Lactoferrin(LF)is a monomer glycoprotein in mammalian colostrum with multi biological activities,thus it plays a vital role in initial immunologic reconstitution for young mammals. Previous studies have discovered that enzymatic hydrolysates of lactoferrin have enhanced antibacterial activity compared to lactoferrin because more active antibacterial peptides were produced by the enzymolysis. At present,molecular mechanism of antibacterial function of lactoferrin is still unclear although many antibacterial activities of lactoferrin were reported. In this paper,combination of the bacterial cell membranes and the antibacterial activity of enzymatic hydrolysates were taken as the breakthrough point,and the process of LF acting in antibacterial function was explored. It was considered that the mechanism of the antibacterial function of lactoferrin was that the structure of lactoferrin changed following binding to bacterial surface,then the sensitive restriction enzyme cutting sites of lactoferrin were exposed,and many antibacterial peptides were released after enzymolysis;subsequently the peptides destroyed the membrane structures of bacterial cells,and thus the purpose of the bacteriostasis or sterilization achieved. In summary,the elucidation of antibacterial mechanism of lactoferrin provides the theoretical basis for developing active proteins with stronger antibacterial ability.

Key words: lactoferrin, antibacterial activity, antimicrobial peptide, membrane binding