A designated bioactive peptide “Hispidalin” purified from the seeds of Benincasa hispida, which is a medicinal plant, belongs to Cucurbitaceae family. Purification was achieved by using a procedure consisting of extraction from potassium phosphate buffer followed by FPLC and HPLC steps. Based on amino acid residue, this peptide is amphipathic and basic with one net positive charge having isoelectric pH 8.1. This peptide is without sulphur containing amino acid suggesting its extended conformation lacking double bond secondary structure. The results obtained from MALDI-TOF suggested that Hispidalin is of molecular mass 5.7？KDa with 49 amino acid residues and confirmed SDS-PAGE resolved ～6.0？KDa protein band. This novel and unknown peptide “Hispidalin” showed broad and potent inhibitory effects against various human bacterial and fungal pathogens; its growth inhibition was significantly comparable with commercial antibacterial and antifungal drugs. The Hispidalin at 40？μg/mL concentration exhibited 70.8% DPPH free radical-scavenging activity and 69.5% lipid peroxide inhibition. Thus, in the present study, Hispidalin demonstrated remarkable antimicrobial and antioxidant potentials from the seeds of B. hispida. 1. Introduction Plants are one of the major sources of peptide. Potentially, peptides have considerable medical importance since they [1] affect the stability and sensory quality of plant foods [2]. Research on bioactive proteins/peptide has been increasing including work on the development of pathogen resistant and antimicrobial compounds [2–6]. In recent years, extensive scientific evidence has been provided for the existence of biological active peptides and proteins derived from plants that might have beneficial effects upon human health [6–12]. Peptides have certain biological activities like antimicrobial and antioxidant activities [2, 4, 6, 13]. Several plants in the family Cucurbitaceae have been widely used as medicine in many countries of Asia including India. B. hispida commonly known as wax guard has been used in treatment of gastrointestinal problems [14], antidepressant-like activity [15], antinociceptive, antipyretic [16], anticompulsive effects [17], and antimicrobial activity [18]. Plants are rich in a wide variety of protein that has found antimicrobial properties [1, 2, 6, 11, 19]. Plants do not have an immune system directly comparable with that of animals. Thus, to protect themselves from infection by a variety of pathogens, plants have evolved a host of defense mechanisms [2, 4, 12, 19]. In recent decades, a number of
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