Antibacterial activity of venom from funnel web spider Agelena labyrinthica (Araneae: Agelenidae)

Abstract

ABSTRACT:Since the number of microorganisms that are resistant to antibiotics has been increasing steadily, the need for combating these pathogens requires new pharmaceutical agents. To produce these substances, new models have been developed in recent decades. In our study, the venom of Agelena labyrinthica (Clerck, 1757) (Araneae: Agelenidae) was tested against ten bacterial strains, specifically, testing 1/100, 1/10 and 1/1 fractions of diluted venom against these bacteria. While the 1/100 dilution was successful in only one of ten bacterial strains, the 1/10 and the 1/1 were effective on six of ten bacterial strains. The most effective results, among these three different concentrations, were observed on Bacillus subtilis. The other five strains that were also sensitive to the dilutions showed similar inhibition zones. Morphological alterations on bacterial cells and comparison with normal cells were accomplished by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The venom-treated cells, due to their loss of cytoplasm, shrank and presented cell wall depression.

Design, Synthesis and Evaluation of Branched RRWQWR-Based Peptides as Antibacterial Agents Against Clinically Relevant Gram-Positive and Gram-Negative Pathogens

“…These results agree with those obtained for other cationic peptides studied at the surface of these bacteria (Winfred et al, 2014 ; Spitzer et al, 2016 ), which suggest that the mechanism of action of each peptide involves the membrane. Interestingly, our observations that each peptide induced damage and porosity in the membrane of P. aeruginosa (Figure S1 ), mirror literature reports on other AMPs (Benli and Yigit, 2008 ; Cao et al, 2017 ). Also the SEM microphotographys display how P. aeruginosa has not surface biofilm As others authors has been demonstrate that Lactoferrin has anti-biofilm activity interfering with its formation and promoting the formation of thin, flat biofilm, allowing P. aeruginosa be more susceptible (Chung and Khanum, 2017 ).…”

Antibacterial properties of snake venom components

“…Recent studies prove that many venoms and venom components produced by different venomous animals show potential antibacterial activity. These include snake (Perumal Samy et al 2007;Al Ahmadi et al 2010;Ferreira et al 2011;Perumal Samy et al 2014b), spider (Haeberli et al 2000;Budnik et al 2004;Kozlov et al 2006;Benli and Yigit 2008), scorpion (Conde et al 2000;Torres-Larios et al 2002), honeybee (EL-Feel et al 2015;Leandro et al 2015) and wasp venoms (Jalaei et al 2014).…”

Phylogeny and taxonomy of European funnel-web spiders of theTegenaria−Malthonicacomplex (Araneae: Agelenidae) based upon morphological and molecular data

“…One important research topic concerns venoms, both from medical and chemical points of view, e.g. the potential use in insecticides (Johnson et al ., ; Yamaji et al ., ; Benli & Yigit, ; Schroeder et al ., ). Other research areas concern the evolution of specific behaviour patterns (Ibarra, ; Pourie & Trabalon, , ; Trabalon & Assi‐Bessekon, ; Pruitt, ; Uhl, Nessler & Schneider, ), evolution in general (Stratton, Suter & Miller, ; Croucher et al ., ; Král, ; Blackledge et al ., ), and developmental biology (Jacunski & Templin, ; Pourie & Trabalon, ; Napiorkowska, Jacunski & Templin, ).…”