Antimicrobial peptides in aqueous and ethanolic extracts from microbial, plant and fermented sources

The objective of this research was to isolate novel peptides from extracts prepared from native microbial, plant and fermented sources. The antimicrobial properties of these extracts were initially tested using Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus. The exact species and strains of these test microorganisms were confirmed by identifying its 16S RNA sequence. The most pronounced inhibition zone for ethanolic extracts was obtained with Andrographis paniculata. For peptide/protein extracts only Allium sativum showed promising results. The particular compound responsible for the inhibition in each case is undergoing characterization by using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and mass spectrometry. © 2009 Asian Network for Scientific Information.