Chemometric analysis of Hymenoptera toxins and defensins: A model for predicting the biological activity of novel peptides from venoms and hemolymph.

When searching for prospective novel peptides, it is difficult to determine the biological activity of a peptide based only on its sequence. The "trial and error" approach is generally laborious, expensive and time consuming due to the large number of different experimental setups required to cover a reasonable number of biological assays. To simulate a virtual model for Hymenoptera insects, 166 peptides were selected from the venoms and hemolymphs of wasps, bees and ants and applied to a mathematical model of multivariate analysis, with nine different chemometric components: GRAVY, aliphaticity index, number of disulfide bonds, total residues, net charge, pI value, Boman index, percentage of alpha helix, and flexibility prediction.

Profiling the peptidome of the venom from the social wasp Agelaia pallipes pallipes.

The wasp Agelaia pallipes pallipes is one of the most aggressive species from the neotropical region, causing many stinging accidents every year, characterized by severe envenoming reactions. The identification of peptides is important for understanding the envenoming process; however, the tiny amount of venom produced by these insects makes this task a challenge, using classical analytical approaches. Thus, the venom was previously fractionated, and the sequences were obtained through the use of electrospray ionization with a tridimensional ion-trap and time-of-flight mass analysis under CID conditions.

Protonectin (1-6): a novel chemotactic peptide from the venom of the social wasp Agelaia pallipes pallipes.

Peptides constitute the largest group of Hymenoptera venom toxins; some of them interact with GPCR, being involved with the activation of different types of leukocytes, smooth muscle contraction and neurotoxicity. Most of these toxins vary from dodecapeptides to tetradecapeptides, amidated at their C-terminal amino acid residue. The venoms of social wasps can also contains some tetra-, penta-, hexa- and hepta-peptides, but just a few of them have been structurally and functionally characterized up to now.