Magainin-1

Magainin-1 is a 23-amino acids peptide which belongs to the magainin peptide family. Magainins are antibiotic peptides with antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal activities. These peptides cause perturbation of membrane functions responsible for osmotic balance. Magainin-1 carries out its antibacterial activity by folding to an amphiphilic helix to interact specifically with lipidic bilayer, resulting in a permeability change. Magainin-1 has broad-spectrum, non-specific activity against a wide range of micro-organisms including viruses as HSV-1 and HSV-2, gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, protozoa, yeasts and fungi. Magainin-1 may also be hemolytic and cytotoxic to cancer cells. Besides its antimicrobial activity, Magainin-1 presents an antifungal activity against some pathogens such as Candida Albicans with a antifungal activity of 4.15 uM. Recently, it has also been shown that magainin-1 can induce apoptosis of some leukemia cells at a concentration of 10 to 50 nM.