Microorganisms existing in complex environments often require capability to produce antimicrobial compounds as a competitive advantage. Therefore, our laboratory focused on isolation and characterization of novel antimicrobial peptides including different types of bacteriocins from microbial diversity of complex ecosystems. We are also characterizing their biosynthetic gene clusters using whole genome sequence analysis approach for their heterologous expression. To this effect, we have characterized few antimicrobial peptides from members of the genera like Brevibacillus, Paenibacillus, Bacillus Clostridium, Lactobacillus etc. The crystal structure analysis of a Brevibacillus sp. strain GI-9 from our lab revealed for the first time it as a defensin analogue of prokaryotes.

• Baindara, P., Gautam, A. Raghava, G.P.S., and Korpole, S. (2017). Anticancer properties of a defensin like class IId bacteriocin laterosporulin10. Sci. Rep. 7:46541.
• Nallabelli, N., Patil., P. P., Pal, V. K., Singh, N., Jain, A., Patil, P. B., Grover, V., and Korpole, S. (2016). Biochemical and genome sequence analyses of Megasphaera sp. strain DISK18 from dental plaque of a healthy individual reveals commensal lifestyle. Sci. Rep. 6:33665.
• Baindara, P., Singh, N., Ranjan, M., Nallabelli, N., Chaudhry, V., Pathania, G.L., Sharma, N., Kumar, A., Patil, P. B., and Korpole, S. (2016). Laterosporulin10: a novel defensin like class IId bacteriocin from Brevibacillus sp. strain SKDU10 with inhibitory activity against microbial pathogens. Microbiol, 162; 1286-1299.
• Baindara, P., Chaudhry, V., Mittal, G., Liao, L. M., Matos, C. O., Khatri, N., Franco, O. L., Patil, P. B., and Korpole, S. (2016). Characterization of the antimicrobial peptide Penisin, a class Ia novel lantibiotic from Paenibacillus sp. strain A3. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 60(1) 580-591.
• Singh, P. K., Solanki, V., Sharma, S., Thakur, K. G., Krishnan, B., and Korpole, S. (2015). Intra-molecular Disulfide-stapled structure of Laterosporulin, a class IId bacteriocin, conceals human defensin-like structural module. FEBS Journal (Cover page article) 282: 203-214.