It is well known that intestinal microbes are important for human health. Not until recently, scientists uncovered the mechanisms through which these resident microbes in the gut affect their hosts. In the study by Qiang et al., they investigated how do the microbes in the gut communicate with the hosts.
By using E.coli as a model, they found that E.coli releases a peptide that is structurally similar to two mammalian melanocortin hormones, alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH) and adrenocorticotropin (ACTH). This peptide, named melanocortin-like peptide of E.coli (MECO-1), is capable of inhibiting cytokine release from macrophage-like cells in response to either endotoxin or pro-inflammatory cytokine stimulation at femtomolar concentrations in vitro, similar to the effect of alpha-MSH and ACTH. Importantly, the effect of MECO-1 on rescuing mice from lethal doses of LPS endotoxin or sterile/polymicrobial sepsis induced death is more potent than alpha-MSH. These results suggest that peptide messengers produced by the gut microbes are able to act on mammalian hosts through the their endogenous hormone signaling pathways.
GenScript also synthesizes high quality peptide libraries for drug discovery, vaccine design, epitope mapping, and proteomics research.
