Use of natural peptide TP4 as a food preservative prevents contamination by fungal pathogens.

Molecules of natural origin often possess useful biological activities. For instance, the natural peptide Tilapia Piscidin 4 (TP4) exhibits potent antimicrobial activity against a broad spectrum of pathogens. In this study, we explored the potential application of TP4 as a food preservative, asking whether it can prevent spoilage due to microbial contamination. A preliminary in silico analysis indicated that TP4 should interact strongly with fungal cell membrane components. Hence, we tested the activity of TP4 toward Candida albicans within fruit juice and found that the addition of TP4 could abolish fungal growth. We further determined that the peptide acts via a membranolytic mechanism and displays concentration-dependent killing efficiency. In addition, we showed that TP4 inhibited growth of Rhizopus oryzae in whole fruit (tomato) samples. Based on these findings, we conclude that TP4 should be further evaluated as a potentially safe and green solution to prevent food spoilage.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Jyh-Yih Chen reports financial support was provided by Higher Education Sprout Project from the Ministry of Education (MOE-110-S-0023-A) Taiwan. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)