Mammalian bombesin-like neuropeptides (BLPs) play an important role in regulation of physiological and pathophysiological processes. Frog skin-derived BLPs, of smaller size and diverse lengths and sequences at their N-terminus, have attracted the attention of many researchers. However, these N-terminal variants and the receptors modulating their pharmacological actions are poorly studied and less understood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are considered as promising antimicrobial agents due to their potent bioactivity. Palustrin-2 peptides were previously found to exhibit broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity with low haemolytic activity. Therefore, GL-29 was used as a template for further modification and study.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBacterial resistance against antibiotics has led to increasing numbers of treatment failures, and AMPs are widely accepted as becoming potential alternatives due to their advantages. Temporin-PKE is a novel peptide extracted from the skin secretion of and it displays a strong activity against Gram-positive bacteria, with an extreme cytotoxicity. Incorporating positively charged residues and introducing D-amino acids were the two main strategies adopted for the modifications.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Bowman-Birk protease inhibitor (BBI) family is a prototype group found mainly in plants, particularly grasses and legumes, which have been subjected to decades of study. Recently, the discovery of attenuated peptides containing the canonical Bowman-Birk protease inhibitory motif has been detected in the skin secretions of amphibians, mainly from Ranidae family members. The roles of these peptides in amphibian defense have been proposed to work cooperatively with antimicrobial peptides and reduce peptide degradation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAmphibian skin secretion is an ideal source of antimicrobial peptides that are difficult to induce drug resistance to due to their membrane-targeting mechanism as a new treatment scheme. In this study, a natural antimicrobial peptide Temporin-1CEh was identified by molecular cloning and mass spectrometry from the skin secretions of the Chinese forest frog (). Through the study of the structure and biological activity, it was found that Temporin-1CEh was a helical peptide from the Temporin family, and possessed good anti-Gram-positive bacteria activity through the mechanism of membrane destruction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDue to the abuse of traditional antibiotics and the continuous mutation of microbial resistance genes, microbial infections have become serious problems for human health. Therefore, novel antibacterial agents are urgently required, and amphibian antimicrobial peptides (AMP) are among the most interesting potential antibacterial leads. In this research, a novel peptide, named kassporin-KS1 (generically QUB-1641), with moderate antibacterial activity against Gram-positive bacteria, was discovered in the skin secretion of the Senegal running frog, .
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAmphibian skin-derived antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have attracted increasing attention from scientists because of their excellent bioactivity and low drug resistance. In addition to being the alternative choice of antibiotics or anticancer agents, natural AMPs can also be modified as templates to optimise their bioactivities further. Here, a novel dermaseptin peptide, t-DPH1, with extensive antimicrobial activity and antiproliferative activity, was isolated from the skin secretion of through 'shotgun' cloning.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntimicrobial resistance has been an increasing public health threat in recent years. Antimicrobial peptides are considered as potential drugs against drug-resistant bacteria because they are mainly broad-spectrum and are unlikely to cause resistance. In this study, a novel peptide was obtained from the skin secretion of Agalychnis callidryas using the "shotgun" cloning method.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBioactive proteins secreted by the granular glands of amphibian skin play a self-defensive role, and exhibit various bioactivities and . In light of the severity of the problem of antibiotic resistance for treating infections, many antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have been developed and applied in clinical microbial treatments. We identified a naturally derived and potent antimicrobial peptide, temporin-FL, obtained from the skin secretion of via "shotgun" cloning.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFComput Struct Biotechnol J
August 2021
Methicillin-resistant (MRSA) causing serious hospital-acquired infections and skin infections has become a "superbug" in clinical treatment. Although the clinical treatment of MRSA is continuously improving, due to its unceasing global spread, MRSA has produced much heated discussion and focused study, therefore suggesting an urgent task to find new antibacterial drugs to combat this issue. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are used as the last-resort drugs for treating multidrug-resistant bacterial infections, but their utilisation is still limited due to their low stability and often strong toxicity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBrevinins are a well-characterised, frog-skin-derived, antimicrobial peptide (AMP) family, but their applications are limited by high cytotoxicity. In this study, a wild-type des-Leu2 brevinin peptide, named brevinin-1OS (B1OS), was identified from . To explore the significant role of the leucine residue at the second position, two variants, B1OS-L and B1OS-D-L, were designed by adding L-leucine and D-leucine residues at this site, respectively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntimicrobial peptides (AMPs) can be used as alternative therapeutic agents to traditional antibiotics. These peptides have abundant natural template sources and can be isolated from animals, plants, and microorganisms. They are amphiphilic and mostly net positively charged, and they have a broad-spectrum inhibitory effect on bacteria, fungi, and viruses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are considered potential alternatives to antibiotics due to their advantages in solving antibiotic resistance. Brevinin-2GUb, which was extracted from the skin secretion of , is a peptide with modest antimicrobial activity. Several analogues were designed to explore the structure-activity relationship and enhance its activity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFKunitz-like trypsin inhibitors are one of the most noteworthy research objects owing to their significance in pharmacological studies, including anticarcinogenic activity, obesity regulation and anticoagulation. In the current study, a novel Kunitz-like trypsin inhibitor, Kunitzin-AH, was isolated from the skin secretion of . The novel peptide displayed a modest trypsin inhibitory activity with the inhibitor constant () value of 1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTemporin is an antimicrobial peptide (AMP) family discovered in the skin secretion of ranid frog that has become a promising alternative for conventional antibiotic therapy. Herein, a novel temporin peptide, Temporin-PF (TPF), was successfully identified from . It exhibited potent activity against Gram-positive bacteria, but no effect on Gram-negative bacteria.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBecause of the abuse of antibiotics, clinical strains began to become more drug-resistant. Their evolution has long surpassed the speed of us looking for a new generation of antibacterial drugs. Therefore, it is urgent to discover a new antimicrobial substance to alleviate the pressure on conventional antibiotics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBradykinin-related peptides (BRPs) family is one of the most significant myotropic peptide families derived from frog skin secretions. Here, a novel BRP callitide was isolated and identified from the red-eyed leaf frog, Agalychnis callidryas, with atypical primary structure FRPAILVRPK-NH2. The mature peptide was cleaved N-terminally at a classic propeptide convertase cleavage site (-KR-) and at the C-terminus an unusual -GKGKGK sequence was removed using the first G residue as an amide donor for the C-terminally-located K residue.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn order to part address the problem of drug-resistant pathogens, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have been proposed as alternatives to traditional antibiotics. Herein, a novel phylloseptin peptide, named phylloseptin-PV1 (PPV1), is described from the defensive skin secretion of the Neotropical white-lined leaf frog, . The peptide was synthesized by solid phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) and purified by RP-HPLC, prior to assessment of its biological activities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDMPC-10A (ALWKKLLKK-Cha-NH) is a 10-mer peptide derivative from the N-terminal domain of Dermaseptin-PC which has shown broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity as well as a considerable hemolytic effect. In order to reduce hemolytic activity and improve stability to endogenous enzymes, a D-amino acid enantiomer (DMPC-10B) was designed by substituting all L-Lys and L-Leu with their respective D-form amino acid residues, while the Ala and Trp remained unchanged. The D-amino acid enantiomer exhibited similar antimicrobial potency to the parent peptide but exerted lower cytotoxicity and hemolytic activity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe peptides from the ranacyclin family share similar active disulphide loop with plant-derived Bowman-Birk type inhibitors, some of which have the dual activities of trypsin inhibition and antimicrobial. Herein, a novel Bowman-Birk type trypsin inhibitor of the ranacyclin family was identified from the skin secretion of broad-folded frog () by molecular cloning method and named as SL-BBI. After chemical synthesis, it was proved to be a potent inhibitor of trypsin with a Ki value of 230.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAs drug-resistant bacteria have become a serious health problem and have caused thousands of deaths, finding new antibiotics has become an urgent research priority. A novel antimicrobial peptide, named Brevinin-1H, was identified in the skin secretion of Amolops hainanensis through 'shotgun' cloning. It has broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity against tested micro-organisms and has anticancer cell activity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are a class of molecules that play an essential role in innate immune regulation. The Brevinin-1 family are AMPs that show strong pharmacological and antimicrobial potential. A novel peptide, B1A, was designed based on the primary structure of brevinin-1PLb and brevinin-1PLc.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are promising therapeutic alternatives compared to conventional antibiotics for the treatment of drug-resistant bacterial infections. However, the application of the overwhelming majority of AMPs is limited because of the high toxicity and high manufacturing costs. Amphibian skin secretion has been proven to be a promising source for the discovery and development of novel AMPs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBradykinin (BK) and bradykinin-related peptides (BRPs), which were identified from a diversity of amphibian skin secretions, exerted contractile and relaxing effects on non-vascular and vascular smooth muscle, respectively. Here, we report a novel bradykinin-related peptide with a molecular mass of 1890.2 Da, RVAGPDKPARISGLSPLR, which was isolated and identified from skin secretions, followed by a C-terminal extension sequence VAPQIV.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSerine protease inhibitors are found in plants, animals and microorganisms, where they play important roles in many physiological and pathological processes. Inhibitor scaffolds based on natural proteins and peptides have gradually become the focus of current research as they tend to bind to their targets with greater specificity than small molecules. In this report, a novel Bowman-Birk type inhibitor, named ranacyclin-NF (RNF), is described and was identified in the skin secretion of the East Asian frog, .
View Article and Find Full Text PDF