Interaction of mastoparan‐B from venom of a hornet in taiwan with phospholipid bilayers and its antimicrobial activity

Abstract

Mastoparan B (MP-B), an amphiphilic alpha-helical peptide newly isolated from the hornet Vespa basalis, was studied in comparison with mastoparan (MP), in terms of interaction with the phospholipid bilayer and of hemolytic and antimicrobial activity. The amphiphilic structure of MP-B has more hydrophilic amino acid residues in the hydrophilic surface than that of MP. Although each peptide had a considerably different effect on the interaction with lipid bilayers (e.g., their conformation in the presence of acidic and of neutral lipids and dye-release ability from the encapsulated liposomes), on the whole the interaction mode was similar. MP-B caused a change in the shape of erythrocytes from normal discoid to a crenated form (named echinocytes). MP exhibited strong activity against gram-positive bacteria but not against gram-negative ones. Contrary to this, MP-B showed both strong activity against gram-positive bacteria and potent activity against gram-negative bacteria. Whereas both peptides have almost the same residues on the hydrophobic side, the difference in the hydrophilic surface area on the molecules seems to lead to the subtle change in its interaction with membranes, resulting in the alteration of biological activity.

The effects of the C-terminal amidation of mastoparans on their biological actions and interactions with membrane-mimetic systems

“…Structural and functional studies have always been isolated from each other; some functional investigations only assayed mast cell degranulation and/or leukocytes chemotaxis, which are mostly dependent on peptide-receptor (GPCRs) interaction [41,42]. Meanwhile, other studies have focused only on hemolytic action and/or antibiosis, which are dependent on peptide-phospholipid interaction [43,44], without investigating mast cell degranulation and PMNL chemotaxis. In addition to the raised concerns, most of these experiments were performed using different peptide sequences, making it difficult to make generalized observations.…”

From individual to collective immunity: The role of the venom as antimicrobial agent in the Stenogastrinae wasp societies

“…In ants, the metapleural gland produces secretions with antiseptic and antifungal activity (Hölldobler and Wilson, 1990) while termites secrete strong antimicrobial compounds from their faecal pellets or from soldier frontal glands (Chen et al, 1998;Rosengaus et al, 2000). Venom glands of various ants, wasps and bees produce several compounds with antimicrobial activity (Park et al, 1995;Orivel et al, 2001;Storey et al, 1991;Turillazzi, 2006) representing one of the most important source of antimicrobial substances in social Hymenoptera (Kuhn-Nentwig, 2003). In some cases, the use of venom is beyond the classical stereotype of defence against predators and can be considered as a component of the social immunity (Cremer et al, 2007;Wilson-Rich et al, 2009;Baracchi et al, 2011).…”

Crystal structure of mastoparan from Polistes jadwagae at 1.2 Å resolution

“…They were originally discovered as the agents that induce histamine release from mast cells and later found to affect a variety of biological activities, including induction of secretion in different types of cells (Mizuno et al, 1998;Murayama et al, 1996;Ohara-Imaizumi et al, 2001;Straub et al, 1998;Wu et al, 1999;Yajima et al, 1997), hemolytic activity (Mendes et al, 2005), antimicrobial activity (Park et al, 1995), etc.…”