(191d) Heterologous Expression of Highly Specific Antimicrobial Peptides in Probiotic E. coli

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) present an interesting alternative to conventional antibiotics because certain classes of AMP are very specific for particular genera of bacteria. Thuricin CD is an antimicrobial peptide that has been found to be specific to Clostridium and Listeria genera. Here, we demonstrate expression of this complex heterodimeric antimicrobial peptide in E. coli hosts and test the efficicacy against Listeria innocua, a non-infectious model organism. Efficacy is evaluated using a well diffusion assay and minimum inhibitory concentration assay. In addition , we study the transport mechanism and post-translational modification of Thuricin CD that influences the performance of mutants in our model.