Baramicin (Bara) is an antimicrobial peptide gene of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster.
Baramicin is a prominent element of the fly immune response: of the most abundant immune peptides detected in the fly hemolymph, the BaraA gene is responsible for 9 of the 24 peptides first described for their high concentrations after systemic infection.
[1][2][3] The name of the Baramicin gene was inspired by One Piece character “Buggy" and derives from the Japanese expression "Bara Bara", an onomatopoeia for things breaking apart, in reference to the Baramicin precursor breaking into multiple sub-peptides.
[3] The Baramicin gene is part of the Toll pathway antifungal immune response.
[4] Together with the description of antifungal activity of IM10-like peptides,[3] the BaraA gene therefore encodes both immune antimicrobials and some factor that promotes host resilience in the face of microbial toxins.