Antimicrobial agents in dragons’ blood

Abstract

Some reptiles sport tough immune systems that help them fend off infections after suffering gnarly wounds. For example, Komodo dragons can avoid infections after bites from other Komodo dragons even though the reptiles’ mouths can harbor up to 50 strains of pathogenic bacteria. At the ACS national meeting in Washington, D.C., last week, researchers reported a method to discover antimicrobial peptides in the blood of these resilient reptiles. The peptides could inspire novel antibacterial therapies, even against multi-drug-resistant pathogens, the researchers said. This bioprospecting approach in reptiles “is a unique take on natural products isolation chemistry,” said Coran Watanabe of Texas A&M University, who was not involved in the work. All vertebrate animals, not just reptiles, rely on antimicrobial peptides as part of their immune response. These short, positively charged peptides can poke holes in the membranes of pathogenic bacteria, disrupt bacterial gene expression, and turn on other parts of