Curiously the peptide is derived from a histone protein. Histones are the 'spools' around which genomic DNA is wrapped. Histones are found in the nucleus insid

Curiously the peptide is derived from a histone protein. Histones are the 'spools' around which genomic DNA is wrapped. Histones are found in the nucleus inside dragon cells. There probably should be no bacteria there even under really bad infection conditions unless the cell itself is being totally destroyed. It's not immediately obvious to me why a histone would have such antibacterial properties. But it's almost certainly not the obvious "bite and sepsis" theory, as you state. I'm not sure it is an 'of course' here - rather it might actually be a lucky find while playing with the truly cool sounding 'dragon's blood'. edit: Huh - after getting curious it looks like the above is precisely my 'incongruent expectation'. From this article in 2001 about antimicrobial histone peptides found in salmon [1]: "Most antimicrobial activity is an extracellular event or occurs in the cellular lysosomal compartment. Therefore, an in vivo antimicrobial role for salmon histone H1 might seem incongruent with this protein’s assumed nuclear location and nucleosomal role. In mammals, however, histone H1 has been found outside the nucleus. It is present in the cytosol of human intestinal villus cells, from which it is released into the intestinal lumen during normal cell sloughing. Histone H1 is also found on the surfaces of murine macrophages where it serves as a receptor for thyroglobulin and it is a cell surface protein in murine neurons and in human monocytes. Therefore, histone H1 is not limited to the nucleus in all cells and it may be released to locations where it can act as an extracellular antimicrobial agent. Moreover, an antimicrobial role has been proposed for histone H1." [1] (2001) http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006291X0195020X?via%3Dihub http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006291X01...