Snakins are cysteine-rich plant antimicrobial peptides that are important for plant defense responses to diverse pathogens, and a snakin gene, PnSN1, was cloned from Panax notoginseng to explore the role of snakin in the disease resistance mechanism of P. notoginseng. A gene expression analysis by quantitative real-time PCR revealed that PnSN1 expression was responsive to a Fusarium solani infection and was induced by four signaling molecules (methyl jasmonate, ethephon, salicylic acid, and hydrogen peroxide). A subcellular localization revealed that the PnSN1-GFP fusion protein was present only in the plant cell wall. Moreover, recombinant PnSN1 expressed in Escherichia coli was inhibitory toward the mycelial growth of four plant pathogenic fungi (F. solani, F. oxysporum, F. verticillioides, and Botryosphaeria dothidea), with increasing protein concentrations resulting in greater antifungal activities. The recombinant protein also inhibited F. solani spore germination. Additionally, the overexpression of PnSN1 in the model plant tobacco considerably increased the resistance to F. solani. Furthermore, the transient expression of the PnSN1 RNA interference construct increased the susceptibility of young P. notoginseng leaves to F. solani. These findings confirmed the importance of PnSN1 for the disease resistance of P. notoginseng.

Snakins是富含半胱氨酸的植物抗菌肽，对于植物对多种病原体的防御反应非常重要，从三七中克隆了snakin基因PnSN1，以探索snakin在三七抗病机理中的作用。通过定量实时PCR进行的基因表达分析显示，PnSN1表达对枯萎镰刀菌感染有反应，并由四个信号分子（茉莉酸甲酯，乙烯利，水杨酸和过氧化氢）诱导。亚细胞定位表明PnSN1-GFP融合蛋白仅存在于植物细胞壁中。此外，在大肠杆菌中表达的重组PnSN1对4种植物病原性真菌（茄子镰刀菌（F. solani），镰刀菌（F. oxysporum），丝镰刀菌（F. verticillioides）和灰葡萄球菌（Botryosphaeria dothidea）的菌丝生长具有抑制作用，蛋白质浓度升高导致更大的抗真菌活性。重组蛋白还抑制茄形镰刀菌的孢子萌发。另外，在模型植物烟草中PnSN1的过表达大大增加了对茄形镰刀菌的抗性。此外，PnSN1 RNA干扰构建体的瞬时表达增加了三七新叶对茄形假单胞菌的敏感性。。这些发现证实了PnSN1对于三七抗病性的重要性。