Attacin is a

glycine Glycine (symbol Gly or G; ) is an amino acid that has a single hydrogen atom as its side chain. It is the simplest stable amino acid. Glycine is one of the proteinogenic amino acids. It is encoded by all the codons starting with GG (G ...

-rich protein of about 20 kDa belonging to the group of

antimicrobial peptides Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), also called host defence peptides (HDPs) are part of the innate immune response found among all classes of life. Fundamental differences exist between Prokaryote, prokaryotic and eukaryota, eukaryotic cells that may ...

(AMP). It is active against

Gram-negative bacteria Gram-negative bacteria are bacteria that, unlike gram-positive bacteria, do not retain the Crystal violet, crystal violet stain used in the Gram staining method of bacterial differentiation. Their defining characteristic is that their cell envelo ...

. Attacin was first discovered in ''

Hyalophora cecropia ''Hyalophora cecropia'', the cecropia moth, is North America's largest native moth. It is a member of the family Saturniidae, or giant silk moths. Females have been documented with a wingspan of or more. These moths can be found predominately ac ...

'', but is widely conserved in different insects from butterflies to fruit flies.

References

{{Reflist Insect immunity Antimicrobial peptides

See also

References