Somuncurins: Bioactive Peptides from the Skin of the Endangered Endemic Patagonian Frog Pleurodema somuncurense

NATALIA L. CANCELARICH; NATALIA WILKE; M. LAURA FANANI; DANIEL C. MOREIRA; LUIS O. PÉREZ; EDER ALVES BARBOSA; ALEXANDRA PLÁCIDO; RENATO SOCODATO; CAMILA C. PORTUGAL; JOÃO B. RELVAS; BEATRIZ G. DE LA TORRE; FERNANDO ALBERICIO; NÉSTOR G. BASSO; JOSÉ R. LEITE; MARIELA M. MARANI

JOURNAL OF NATURAL PRODUCTS

AMER CHEMICAL SOC

Lugar: Washington; Año: 2020

0163-3864

The skin glands of amphibian species hold a majorcomponent of their innate immunity, namely a unique set ofantimicrobial peptides (AMPs). Although most of them have commoncharacteristics, differences in AMP sequences allow a huge repertoire ofbiological activity with varying degrees of efficacy. We present the firststudy of the AMPs from Pleurodema somuncurence (Anura:Leptodactylidae: Leiuperinae). Among the 11 identified maturepeptides, three presented antimicrobial activity. Somuncurin-1(FIIWPLRYRK), somuncurin-2 (FILKRSYPQYY), and thaulin-3(NLVGSLLGGILKK) inhibited Escherichia coli growth. Somuncurin-1 also showed antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus.Biophysical membrane model studies revealed that this peptide had agreater permeation effect in prokaryotic-like membranes and capacityto restructure liposomes, suggesting fusogenic activity, which couldlead to cell aggregation and disruption of cell morphology. This study contributes to the characterization of peptides with newsequences to enrich the databases for the design of therapeutic agents. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of investing innature conservation and the power of genetic description as a strategy to identify new compounds