Cyanobacterial lectins characteristics and their role as antiviral agents

Singh, Ram Sarup; Walia, Amandeep; Khattar, Jasvirinder Singh; Singh, Devinder; Kennedy, John F.

doi:10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2017.04.041

Cited by 46 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 149 publications

(309 reference statements)

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“…Apart from them, lectins from microfungi (Singh et al 2011), mushrooms (Singh et al 2010(Singh et al , 2016 and algae have also been explored for various biomedical applications. Amongst algae, agglutinins have been most extensively reported from the Rhodophyceae, Chlorophyceae, Cyanophyceae and Phaeophyceae (Akkouh et al 2015;Singh et al 2017;Teixeira et al 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lectins from red algae and their biomedical potential

Singh

Walia

2017

J Appl Phycol

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Lectins are unique proteins or glycoproteins of nonimmune origin that bind specifically to carbohydrates. They recognise and interact reversibly to either free carbohydrates or glycoconjugates, without modifying their structure. Lectins are highly diverse and widely distributed in nature and have been extensively reported from various red algae species. Numerous red algae species have been reported to possess lectins having carbohydrate specificity towards complex glycoproteins or high-mannose N-glycans. These lectin-glycan interactions further trigger many biochemical responses which lead to their extensive use as valuable tools in biomedical research. Thus, owing to their exceptional glycan recognition property, red algae lectins are potential candidate for inhibition of various viral diseases. Hence, the present report integrates existing information on the red algae lectins, their carbohydrate specificity, and characteristics of purified lectins. Further, the review also reports the current state of research into their anti-viral activity against various enveloped viruses such as HIV, hepatitis, influenza, encephalitis, coronavirus and herpes simplex virus and other biomedical activities such as anti-cancer, anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, antinociceptive and acaricidal activities.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lectins from red algae and their biomedical potential

Singh

Walia

2017

J Appl Phycol

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“…Known antiviral lectins produced by cyanobacteria present less than 200 aa and 2 or more disulfide bonds in their structures . Therefore, the best candidates for homology modeling and molecular dynamics analysis were chosen following these criteria.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Currently, three lectins have gained prominence: (i) Cyanovirin‐N, which was isolated from Nostoc ellipsosporum , may inactivate HIV strains even at low nanomolar concentrations; (ii) microvirin, isolated from Microcystis aeruginosa, shares 33% of identity with cyanovirin, but it is 50 times less cytotoxic; and, (iii) scytovirin, which was isolated from Scytonema varium , acts against Zaire Ebola virus, coronavirus, and Cryptococcus fungi besides having anti‐HIV activity . In this sense, screening of new cyanobacterial lectins as well their structural improvement is a reasonable strategy in the search for new microbicide candidates …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genomic screening of new putative antiviral lectins from Amazonian cyanobacteria based on a bioinformatics approach

et al. 2018

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Lectins are proteins of nonimmune origin, which are capable of recognizing and binding to glycoconjugate moieties. Some of them can block the interaction of viral glycoproteins to the host cell receptors acting as antiviral agents. Although cyanobacterial lectins have presented broad biotechnological potential, little research has been directed to Amazonian Cyanobacterial diversity. In order to identify new antiviral lectins, we performed genomic analysis in seven cyanobacterial strains from Coleção Amazônica de Cianobactérias e Microalgas (CACIAM). We found 75 unique CDS presenting one or more lectin domains. Since almost all were annotated as hypothetical proteins, we used homology modeling and molecular dynamics simulations to evaluate the structural and functional properties of three CDS that were more similar to known antiviral lectins. Nostoc sp. CACIAM 19 as well as Tolypothrix sp. CACIAM 22 strains presented cyanovirin-N homologues whose function was confirmed by binding free energy calculations. Asn, Glu, Thr, Lys, Leu, and Gly, which were described as binding residues for cyanovirin, were also observed on those structures. As for other known cyanovirins, those residues in both our models also made favorable interactions with dimannose. Finally, Alkalinema sp. CACIAM 70d presented one CDS, which was identified as a seven-bladed beta-propeller structure with binding sites predicted for sialic acid and N-acetylglucosamine. Despite its singular structure, our analysis suggested this molecule as a new putative antiviral lectin. Overall, the identification and the characterization of new lectins and their homologues are a promising area in antiviral research, and Amazonian cyanobacteria present biotechnological potential to be explored in this regard.

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“…They are a structurally diverse group of highly specific and reversibly carbohydrate-binding proteins [70]. The three groups of macroalgae (Rhodophyta, Phaeophyta, and Chlorophyta) can produce lectins [71], and these lectins present great potential for the development of new drugs [72][73][74][75][76]. In fact, because of the highly specific way lectins bind to sugars outside cell surfaces inhibiting cell proliferation [77,78], lectins primarily show antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal activities [73,[79][80][81].…”

Section: Griffithsinmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seaweed Secondary Metabolites with Beneficial Health Effects: An Overview of Successes in In Vivo Studies and Clinical Trials

et al. 2019

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Macroalgae are increasingly viewed as a source of secondary metabolites with great potential for the development of new drugs. In this development, in vitro studies are only the first step in a long process, while in vivo studies and clinical trials are the most revealing stages of the true potential and limitations that a given metabolite may have as a new drug. This literature review aims to give a critical overview of the secondary metabolites that reveal the most interesting results in these two steps. Phlorotannins show great pharmaceutical potential in in vivo models and, among the several examples, the anti-dyslipidemia activity of dieckol must be highlighted because it was more effective than lovastatin in an in vivo model. The IRLIIVLMPILMA tridecapeptide that exhibits an in vivo level of activity similar to the hypotensive clinical drug captopril should still be stressed, as well as griffithsin which showed such stunning results over a variety of animal models and which will probably move onto clinical trials soon. Regarding clinical trials, studies with pure algal metabolites are scarce, limited to those carried out with kahalalide F and fucoxanthin. The majority of clinical trials currently aim to ascertain the effect of algae consumption, as extracts or fractions, on obesity and diabetes.Studies focusing on the preparation of macroalgae extracts and their chemical characterization revealed a large range of seaweed compounds with very interesting biological activities including antitumor, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antidiabetic, antivirus, antihypertensive, fat-lowering, and neuroprotective activities [12][13][14][15].The large volume of studies proving the seaweed compound activities in in vitro systems [16][17][18][19] hints the need for further advancements in the knowledge about macroalgae compound efficiency in living systems (in vivo) and their use in the development of pharmaceuticals. In vitro studies are very relevant and yield very important information, but they only represent the first step of a long process, and the results obtained rarely reveal anything about the effects of a compound in vivo, because the responses observed in vitro can be magnified, diminished, or totally different in a more complex and integrated system. In fact, in vivo studies and clinical trials are those which contribute most to truly understanding the real potential of compounds as future pharmaceuticals.In this regard, the present work intends to present insight into the results obtained in the last few years regarding secondary metabolites, such as phlorotannins, halogenated compounds, fucoxanthin, and fucosterol isolated from macroalgae, involved in in vivo studies and clinical trials, identifying the research opportunities and knowledge gaps, to valorize these compounds and their natural resources. The intention is not to present an exhaustive survey of all published works, but rather a selection of authors based on the following criteria: in-depth studies involving pure compounds most characteristic f...

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Cyanobacterial lectins characteristics and their role as antiviral agents

Cited by 46 publications

References 149 publications

Lectins from red algae and their biomedical potential

Lectins from red algae and their biomedical potential

Genomic screening of new putative antiviral lectins from Amazonian cyanobacteria based on a bioinformatics approach

Seaweed Secondary Metabolites with Beneficial Health Effects: An Overview of Successes in In Vivo Studies and Clinical Trials

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