Genetic Analysis of Signal Peptides in Amphibian Antimicrobial Secretions. Running title: Signal Peptide Diversity from Frogs

LUIS ORLANDO PÉREZ; NATALIA L. CANCELARICH; AGUILAR SILVANA; BASSO, NÉSTOR G.; MARANI, MARIELA MIRTA

JOURNAL OF GENETICS

INDIAN ACAD SCIENCES

Lugar: Bangalore ; Año: 2018

0022-1333

Amphibian secretion is an important source of bioactive molecules that naturally protect the skin against noxious microorganisms. Collectively called Antimicrobial Peptides (AMPs), these molecules have a wide spectrum of action, targeting viruses, bacteria and fungi. Like many membrane and secreted proteins, AMPs have cleavable signal sequences that mediate and translocate the nascent polypeptide chains into the endoplasmic reticulum. Although it is accepted that the signal peptides are simple and interchangeable, there is neither sequence nor structure that is conserved among all gene families. They derived from a common ancestor but developed different traits as they adapt to distinct environmental pressures. The aim of this study was to provide an overview of the diversity of signal peptides of the frog, taking into account reported cDNA sequences and the evolutionary relationship among them. We analysed more than two thousand records, reported the relative abundance, diversity and evolutionary divergence based on the peptide signals of frog antimicrobial peptides. We conclude that the physical properties of the sequence is more important than the specific peptides in AMP signal peptides. Since there is significant overlapping among related genera, differences in secretion from different peptides types should be regulated by additional levels, like post-transcriptional modifications or 5´UTR sequences.