1
|
Santos MA, Silva FL, Lira BOV, Cardozo Fh JL, Vasconcelos AG, Araujo AR, Murad AM, Garay AV, Freitas SM, Leite JRSA, Bloch C, Ramada MHS, de Oliveira AL, Brand GD. Probing human proteins for short encrypted antimicrobial peptides reveals Hs10, a peptide with selective activity for gram-negative bacteria. Biochim Biophys Acta Gen Subj 2023; 1867:130265. [PMID: 36280021 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbagen.2022.130265] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2022] [Revised: 10/04/2022] [Accepted: 10/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Some cationic and amphiphilic α-helical segments of proteins adsorb to prokaryotic membranes when synthesized as individual polypeptide sequences, resulting in broad and potent antimicrobial activity. However, amphiphilicity, a determinant physicochemical property for peptide-membrane interactions, can also be observed in some β-sheets. METHODS The software Kamal was used to scan the human reference proteome for short (7-11 amino acid residues) cationic and amphiphilic protein segments with the characteristic periodicity of β-sheets. Some of the uncovered peptides were chemically synthesized, and antimicrobial assays were conducted. Biophysical techniques were used to probe the molecular interaction of one peptide with phospholipid vesicles, lipopolysaccharides (LPS) and the bacterium Escherichia coli. RESULTS Thousands of compatible segments were found in human proteins, five were synthesized, and three presented antimicrobial activity in the micromolar range. Hs10, a nonapeptide fragment of the Complement C3 protein, could inhibit only the growth of tested Gram-negative microorganisms, presenting also little cytotoxicity to human fibroblasts. Hs10 interacted with LPS while transitioning from an unstructured segment to a β-sheet and increased the hydrodynamic radius of LPS particles. This peptide also promoted morphological alterations in E. coli cells. CONCLUSIONS Data presented herein introduce yet another molecular template to probe proteins in search for encrypted membrane-active segments and demonstrates that, using this approach, short peptides with low cytotoxicity and high selectivity to prokaryotic cells might be obtained. GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE This work widens the biotechnological potential of the human proteome as a source of antimicrobial peptides with application in human health.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Michele A Santos
- Laboratório de Ressonância Magnética Nuclear, LRMN, Instituto de Química, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, DF, Brazil; Laboratório de Síntese e Análise de Biomoléculas, LSAB, Instituto de Química, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, DF, Brazil
| | - Fernanda L Silva
- Laboratório de Síntese e Análise de Biomoléculas, LSAB, Instituto de Química, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, DF, Brazil
| | - Bianca O V Lira
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Genômicas e Biotecnologia, Universidade Católica de Brasília, Brasília, DF, Brazil
| | - José L Cardozo Fh
- Laboratório de Espectrometria de Massa, LEM, Embrapa Recursos Genéticos e Biotecnologia, Brasília, DF, Brazil
| | - Andreanne G Vasconcelos
- Núcleo de Pesquisa em Morfologia e Imunologia Aplicada, NuPMIA, Faculdade de Medicina, Campus Universitário Darcy Ribeiro, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, DF, Brazil
| | - Alyne R Araujo
- Núcleo de Pesquisa em Biodiversidade e Biotecnologia, Universidade Federal do Piauí, Parnaíba, PI, Brazil
| | - André M Murad
- Laboratório de Espectrometria de Massa, LEM, Embrapa Recursos Genéticos e Biotecnologia, Brasília, DF, Brazil
| | - Aisel V Garay
- Laboratório de Biofísica Molecular, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade de Brasília (IB-CEL/UnB), Campus Darcy Ribeiro, Asa Norte, Brasília, DF, Brazil
| | - Sonia M Freitas
- Laboratório de Biofísica Molecular, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade de Brasília (IB-CEL/UnB), Campus Darcy Ribeiro, Asa Norte, Brasília, DF, Brazil
| | - José Roberto S A Leite
- Núcleo de Pesquisa em Morfologia e Imunologia Aplicada, NuPMIA, Faculdade de Medicina, Campus Universitário Darcy Ribeiro, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, DF, Brazil
| | - Carlos Bloch
- Laboratório de Espectrometria de Massa, LEM, Embrapa Recursos Genéticos e Biotecnologia, Brasília, DF, Brazil
| | - Marcelo H S Ramada
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Genômicas e Biotecnologia, Universidade Católica de Brasília, Brasília, DF, Brazil; Programa de Pós-Graduação em Gerontologia, Universidade Católica de Brasília, Brasília, DF, Brazil
| | - Aline Lima de Oliveira
- Laboratório de Ressonância Magnética Nuclear, LRMN, Instituto de Química, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, DF, Brazil
| | - Guilherme D Brand
- Laboratório de Síntese e Análise de Biomoléculas, LSAB, Instituto de Química, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, DF, Brazil.
| |
Collapse
|