The antimicrobial peptides of insects are induced by exposure to bacteria (Furukawa et al., 1999). To verify whether the antimicrobial activity of the silkworm hemolymph supernatant is caused by the antimicrobial peptides, we examined whether injection of Sakai cells

into silkworms induced the antimicrobial activity. We injected saline or Sakai cell suspension into silkworms and prepared a methanol extract from the hemolymph 8 h after the injection. The methanol extract of the hemolymph from silkworms injected with the Sakai strain more effectively inhibited rfbE mutant growth than that from silkworms injected with saline (Fig. 2c). The growth inhibitory activity of silkworm hemolymph was also induced by injecting rfbE mutant cells into silkworms (data not shown). These results Dabrafenib price suggest that antimicrobial peptides are responsible for

the growth inhibitory activity of silkworm hemolymph against the rfbE mutant. Moricin is a major antimicrobial peptide produced in the silkworm hemolymph (Hara & Yamakawa, 1995). We examined whether the rfbE and waaL mutants showed increased sensitivity to moricin. We cultured these mutants in liquid medium supplemented with moricin and measured the number of viable cells. The numbers of viable cells of the rfbE and waaL mutants were smaller Erlotinib than that of the parent strain (Fig. 3a). The decreased numbers of viable cells of the rfbE and waaL mutants were restored by introducing the intact rfbE and waaL Histidine ammonia-lyase genes, respectively, into each mutant (Fig. 3a). In the absence of moricin, the growth of the two mutants was comparable to that of the parent strain (Fig. 3a). These findings suggest that the LPS O-antigen contributes to the resistance of EHEC O157:H7 to moricin. We next examined whether the LPS O-antigen of EHEC O157:H7 contributes to resistance against mammalian humoral innate immune factors. The number of viable cells of the rfbE and waaL mutants was decreased to less than one-hundredth that

of the parent strain in swine serum (Fig. 3b). The decreased cell number of the rfbE and waaL mutants in swine serum was restored by introducing the intact rfbE and waaL genes, respectively (Fig. 3b). In the absence of swine serum, the cell numbers of these mutants were comparable with that of the parent strain (Fig. 3b). Heat treatment, which is widely used for the inactivation of complements, abolished the bactericidal activity of swine serum against the rfbE and waaL mutants (Fig. 3b). Therefore, these findings suggest that the LPS O-antigen of EHEC O157:H7 is required for resistance against the heat-susceptible antimicrobial factors of swine serum. The findings of the present study indicate that EHEC O157:H7 kills silkworms, and the LPS O-antigen of this pathogen is required for this silkworm-killing effect.