TY - JOUR
T1 - Insights into antimicrobial peptides from spiders and scorpions
AU - Wang, Xiuqing
AU - Wang, Guangshun
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Bentham Science Publishers.
PY - 2016/8/1
Y1 - 2016/8/1
N2 - The venoms of spiders and scorpions contain a variety of chemical compounds. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) from these organisms were first discovered in the 1990s. As of May 2015, there were 42 spider's and 63 scorpion's AMPs in the Antimicrobial Peptide Database (http://aps.unmc.edu/AP). These peptides have demonstrated broad or narrow-spectrum activities against bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites. In addition, they can be toxic to cancer cells, insects and erythrocytes. To provide insight into such an activity spectrum, this article discusses the discovery, classification, structure and activity relationships, bioinformatics analysis, and potential applications of spider and scorpion AMPs. Our analysis reveals that, in the case of linear peptides, spiders use both glycine-rich and helical peptide models for defense, whereas scorpions use two distinct helical peptide models with different amino acid compositions to exert the observed antimicrobial activities and hemolytic toxicity. Our structural bioinformatics study improves the knowledge in the field and can be used to design more selective peptides to combat tumors, parasites, and viruses.
AB - The venoms of spiders and scorpions contain a variety of chemical compounds. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) from these organisms were first discovered in the 1990s. As of May 2015, there were 42 spider's and 63 scorpion's AMPs in the Antimicrobial Peptide Database (http://aps.unmc.edu/AP). These peptides have demonstrated broad or narrow-spectrum activities against bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites. In addition, they can be toxic to cancer cells, insects and erythrocytes. To provide insight into such an activity spectrum, this article discusses the discovery, classification, structure and activity relationships, bioinformatics analysis, and potential applications of spider and scorpion AMPs. Our analysis reveals that, in the case of linear peptides, spiders use both glycine-rich and helical peptide models for defense, whereas scorpions use two distinct helical peptide models with different amino acid compositions to exert the observed antimicrobial activities and hemolytic toxicity. Our structural bioinformatics study improves the knowledge in the field and can be used to design more selective peptides to combat tumors, parasites, and viruses.
KW - Anti-HIV peptides
KW - Anticancer peptides
KW - Antimalarial peptides
KW - Antimicrobial peptides
KW - Bioinformatics
KW - Scorpions
KW - Spiders
KW - Structural biology
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U2 - 10.2174/0929866523666160511151320
DO - 10.2174/0929866523666160511151320
M3 - Review article
C2 - 27165405
AN - SCOPUS:85047289509
VL - 23
SP - 707
EP - 721
JO - Protein and Peptide Letters
JF - Protein and Peptide Letters
SN - 0929-8665
IS - 8
ER -