Version 1
: Received: 5 January 2018 / Approved: 8 January 2018 / Online: 8 January 2018 (08:29:03 CET)
How to cite:
Derby, C. D.; Gilbert, E. S.; Tai, P. C. The Molecules and Mechanisms Underlying the Antimicrobial Activity of Escapin, an L–Amino Acid Oxidase from the Ink of Sea Hares. Preprints2018, 2018010047. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints201801.0047.v1
Derby, C. D.; Gilbert, E. S.; Tai, P. C. The Molecules and Mechanisms Underlying the Antimicrobial Activity of Escapin, an L–Amino Acid Oxidase from the Ink of Sea Hares. Preprints 2018, 2018010047. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints201801.0047.v1
Derby, C. D.; Gilbert, E. S.; Tai, P. C. The Molecules and Mechanisms Underlying the Antimicrobial Activity of Escapin, an L–Amino Acid Oxidase from the Ink of Sea Hares. Preprints2018, 2018010047. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints201801.0047.v1
APA Style
Derby, C. D., Gilbert, E. S., & Tai, P. C. (2018). The Molecules and Mechanisms Underlying the Antimicrobial Activity of Escapin, an L–Amino Acid Oxidase from the Ink of Sea Hares. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints201801.0047.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Derby, C. D., Eric S. Gilbert and Phang C. Tai. 2018 "The Molecules and Mechanisms Underlying the Antimicrobial Activity of Escapin, an L–Amino Acid Oxidase from the Ink of Sea Hares" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints201801.0047.v1
Abstract
Many marine animals use chemicals to defend themselves and their eggs from predators. Beyond their ecologically relevant functions, these chemicals may also have properties that make them beneficial for humans, including with biomedical and industrial applications. For example, some chemical defenses are also powerful antimicrobial or anti-tumor agents with relevance to human health and disease. One such chemical defense, Escapin, an L–amino acid oxidase in the defensive ink of the sea hare Aplysia californica, and related proteins have been investigated for their biomedical properties. This review details our current understanding of Escapin’s antimicrobial activity, including the array of chemicals generated by Escapin’s oxidation of its major substrates, L–lysine and L–arginine, and mechanisms underlying these molecules’ bactericidal and bacteriostatic effects on planktonic cells and the prevention of formation and removal of bacterial biofilms. Models of Escapin’s effects are presented, and future directions are proposed.
Keywords
antimicrobial; Aplysia; biofilm; chemical defense; Escapin; L–amino acid oxidase
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Immunology and Microbiology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.