Antibacterial and Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Novel Peptide Toxin from the Spider Pardosa astrigera.

Min Kyoung Shin,Yunkyung Kim,Woo Young Bang,Wonhee Jang,Seung Tae Kim,In-Wook Hwang,Seungki Lee,Chang-Hwan Bae,Jung-Suk Sung

doi:10.3390/antibiotics9070422

Min Kyoung Shin, Yunkyung Kim + Show 7 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics9070422

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Abstract

The prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria has become an immediate threat to public health. Antimicrobial peptides are attracting attention as a new source of antibiotics due to their ability to prevent drug-resistances with fewer side effects. Spider venom is composed of various bioactive substances with multiple functionalities such as antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory effects. Here, RNA sequencing was conducted on the venom gland of the spider Pardosa astrigera, and a potential toxin peptide with antibacterial properties was selected via homology and in silico analysis. A novel toxin, Lycotoxin-Pa4a, inhibited both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria by disrupting the outer and bacterial cytoplasmic membrane. Moreover, the peptide downregulated the expression of pro-inflammatory mediators while upregulating the level of anti-inflammatory cytokine by inactivating mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling in a lipopolysaccharide-stimulated murine macrophage cell line. In this research, we identified a novel peptide toxin, Lycotoxin-pa4a, with antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties, suggesting its potential for the development of a new antibiotics, as well as offering insights into the utilization of biological resources.

Highlights

Antibiotics have dramatically reduced the risk of infection, contributing to public health since the discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming
The transcriptome was investigated and RNA sequencing using the Next-generation sequencing (NGS) technique was performed in search of finding a functional peptide from the venom gland of the P. astrigera spider
92,083,914 reads were sequenced from the sample, and the subsequent de novo assembly resulted in 149,710 transcripts

Summary

Introduction

Antibiotics have dramatically reduced the risk of infection, contributing to public health since the discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming. Due to the overuse of antibiotics and the limitation of their availability, drug-resistant bacteria have emerged and become an immediate threat to humankind worldwide [1,2]; there is an urgent need to identify a new source of antibacterial agents. Peptides possess pharmaceutical applicability owing to their high efficacy and selectivity towards cellular components. Owing to their chemical and physiological nature, the utilization and optimization of peptides can facilitate rapid drug designing. Combined treatment using conventional medication with peptides has reportedly demonstrated synergistic effects on pathological phenomena such as infectiona, cancera, and neurodegeneration [3,4,5]. As the biological value of peptides increases, the identification of novel peptides and investigation of their functionalities are gaining more interest

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