**2.3 Antimicrobial peptides derived from bovine chromogranin B**

To date, the natural C-terminal fragment of bovine CGB (CCB; bCGB 564-626), isolated from chromaffin granules of the adrenal medulla, was found to display antibacterial activity against both *M. luteus* and *E. coli*. The complete inhibition of bacterial growth was observed at a concentration around 1.8 µM (Strub et al., 1996b). This large fragment contains the natural short antibacterial peptide secretolytin (SEC, bCGB614-626) with a net positive charge (+3) (Figure 3). We observed the natural formation of a pyrrolidone glutamic acid at the N-terminal end of SEC and both forms displayed antibacterial activity against *M. luteus*, reaching 100% of growth inhibition at 2 µM (Strub et al., 1996ab). A structure-activity analysis suggests that an alpha-helical amphipathic structure common to SEC and cecropins may account for the antibacterial activity (Strub et al., 1996b).
