Biologically Active Peptides from Venoms: Applications in Antibiotic Resistance, Cancer, and Beyond

Abstract

Peptides are potential therapeutic alternatives against global diseases, such as antimicrobial-resistant infections and cancer. Venoms are a rich source of bioactive peptides that have evolved over time to act on specific targets of the prey. Peptides are one of the main components responsible for the biological activity and toxicity of venoms. South American organisms such as scorpions, snakes, and spiders are important producers of a myriad of peptides with different biological activities. In this review, we report the main venom-derived peptide families produced from South American organisms and their corresponding activities and biological targets.

Structure-function-guided design of synthetic peptides with anti-infective activity derived from wasp venom

“…Lys was selected given its tendency to lead to increased antimicrobial activity while not increasing cytotoxicity in sequences derived from venoms. 3 , 4 , 6 , 7 , 22 – 25 Lys residues were used instead of arginine (Arg) because Arg is more likely to increase the toxicity of short amphipathic peptides such as the EMP-EM templates. 26 We placed the single substitutions in positions that were expected to lead to analogs with higher amphipathicity and lower in vitro aggregation tendencies ( Table 2 ), properties that proved to be important for the antimicrobial activity of this peptide family.…”

“…Venoms are an exciting new source of potential drugs and are being explored for antibiotic discovery. 3 – 7 Specifically, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have been found to be present in venoms or toxins. 3 – 10 AMPs are a promising alternative to conventional antibiotics as they can kill bacteria by penetrating through their membranes via non-specific membrane-related mechanisms of action.…”

Editorial: Community series in antimicrobial peptides: Molecular design, structure function relationship and biosynthesis optimization

“…Pathogen resistance to antimicrobials, especially multi-drug resistance, poses a serious worldwide public health concern due to the higher morbidity and mortality rates caused by these infections. Alternatives to antimicrobials such as AMPs attract attention due to their multifactorial mechanism of action, low propensity to select for bacterial resistance, intracellular antibacterial activity, and special synergistic with conventional antimicrobials, among other advantages (Travis et al, 2018 ; Wang et al, 2018 ; Cardoso et al, 2019b ; Lazzaro et al, 2020 ; Ageitos et al, 2022 ; Aminov, 2022 ; Hao et al, 2022 ; Zhu R. et al ). Thus, the discovery, modification, reformation and de novo design of AMPs represent an exciting approach for infection management and control.…”

Peptide-based drug discovery through artificial intelligence: towards an autonomous design of therapeutic peptides

“…Peptides can be isolated from natural sources [ 1 ], including venoms [ 22 ], food products [ 23 ] and marine organisms [ 24 ]. Alternatively, peptides can be produced using recombinant techniques and chemical synthesis [ 25 , 26 ].…”