Injury or injection of live bacteria into third instar larvae of the dipteran insect Phormia terranovae results in the appearance in the haemolymph of at least five groups of heat-stable, more or ...less basic peptides with antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli . Three of these peptides have been purified. The amino acid sequence has been completely established for one of these and partially (first 40 residues from the N-terminus) for the two others. The authors propose the name of diptercins for this new family of antibiotic molecules.
