The
Hirudo Medicinalis Microbiome Is a Source of New Antimicrobial Peptides.
Int J Mol Sci 2020;
21:E7141. [PMID:
32992666 PMCID:
PMC7582656 DOI:
10.3390/ijms21197141]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2020] [Revised: 09/24/2020] [Accepted: 09/25/2020] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are considered a promising new class of anti-infectious agents. This study reports new antimicrobial peptides derived from the Hirudo medicinalis microbiome identified by a computational analysis method applied to the H. medicinalis metagenome. The identified AMPs possess a strong antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria (MIC range: 5.3 to 22.4 μM), including Staphylococcus haemolyticus, an opportunistic coagulase-negative pathogen. The secondary structure analysis of peptides via CD spectroscopy showed that all the AMPs except pept_352 have mostly disordered structures that do not change under different conditions. For peptide pept_352, the α-helical content increases in the membrane environment. The examination of the mechanism of action of peptides suggests that peptide pept_352 exhibits a direct membranolytic activity. Furthermore, the cytotoxicity assay demonstrated that the nontoxic peptide pept_1545 is a promising candidate for drug development. Overall, the analysis method implemented in the study may serve as an effective tool for the identification of new AMPs.
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