A genomic approach to identification of novel broad-spectrum antimicrobial peptides from bony fish

摘要

There is provided a method of identifying candidate nucleic acid sequences encoding antimicrobial peptides. The method comprises: identifying an initial peptide of interest; identifying genomic DNA encoding the initial peptide; identifying a flanking sequence on each side of the initial peptide; obtaining primers complementary to the flanking sequences; and, screening a wide range of nucleic acid sequences to identify candidate sequences capable of being amplified using the primers from step e). In some instances the antimicrobial peptide is a hepcidin or a pleurocidin.