Unlocking the antibacterial potential of bacteriocin peptides: A subtractive proteomics approach to target food spoiling Serratia marcescens

Abstract

Food deterioration is a serious environmental issue as well as a major concern of the food industry. Bacteriocins, a natural food preservative, can help resolve these issues. The peptide sequences of 111 bacteriocins were obtained from UniProt. The physicochemical properties and immunogenicity of peptides were identified. Final 55 non immunogenic antimicrobial peptides were selected. Full proteome of Serratia marcescens, containing 4,706 proteins, was downloaded from UniProt. The subtractive proteomic approaches were used to select target pathogenic proteins. Only seventy-two proteins from outer membrane, cytoplasmic membrane, extracellular and periplasm were selected for further analysis. Only two S. marcescens proteins, UPI0002AF278A and UPI0003C9BA85, were docked with 55 bacteriocins. Five protein-bacteriocin complexes were subjected to MD simulation by using Amber tool. Three complexes, UPI0003C9BA85-P36504, UPI0003C9BA85-P80925m and UPI0003C9BA85-P86394m were found stable during 50ns run of MD simulation. These three bacteriocins are suggested for further laboratory testing to be used as food preservatives