Prediction of Antibacterial Peptides against Propionibacterium acnes from the Peptidomes of Achatina fulica Mucus Fractions

Abstract

Acne vulgaris is a common skin disease mainly caused by the Gram-positive pathogenic bacterium, Propionibacterium acnes. This bacterium stimulates the inflammation process in human sebaceous glands. The giant African snail (Achatina fulica) is an alien species that rapidly reproduces and seriously damages agricultural products in Thailand. There were several research reports on the medical and pharmaceutical benefits of these snail mucus peptides and proteins. This study aimed to in silico predict multifunctional bioactive peptides from A. fulica mucus peptidome using bioinformatic tools for the determination of antimicrobial (iAMPpred), anti-biofilm (dPABBs), cytotoxic (ToxinPred) and cell-membrane-penetrating (CPPpred) peptides. Three candidate peptides with the highest predictive score were selected and re-designed/modified to improve the required activities. Structural and physicochemical properties of six anti-P. acnes (APA) peptide candidates were performed using the PEP–FOLD3 program and the four previous tools. All candidates had a random coiled structure and were named APAP-1 ori, APAP-2 ori, APAP-3 ori, APAP-1 mod, APAP-2 mod, and APAP-3 mod. To validate the APA activity, these peptide candidates were synthesized and tested against six isolates of P. acnes. The modified APA peptides showed high APA activity on three isolates. Therefore, our biomimetic mucus peptides could be useful for preventing acne vulgaris and further examined on other activities important to medical and pharmaceutical applications.

Computer-Aided Virtual Screening and In Vitro Validation of Biomimetic Tyrosinase Inhibitory Peptides from Abalone Peptidome

“…The process of bioinformatics prediction and screening for the tyrosinase inhibitory peptides is quite challenging due to the limitations of the specific in silico screening tools available. Currently, several bioinformatic pipelines and in silico screening are becoming alternative preliminary approaches for the discovery and development of the bioactive compounds or drugs and have the benefits of cutting costs and speeding up the process before the validation by in vitro and in vivo experiments [ 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 ]. Since there was no “ideal perfect docking program” that could give the highest accuracy and best performance in all cases, both docking approaches were employed to obtain the comparative binding energies and affinities.…”

Understanding Snail Mucus Biosynthesis and Shell Biomineralisation through Genomic Data Mining of the Reconstructed Carbohydrate and Glycan Metabolic Pathways of the Giant African Snail (Achatina fulica)

“…Bioinformatic prediction of these mucous peptides showed several interesting bioactive activities. These activities were confirmed experimentally, including anti-breast cancer [ 17 ] and antibacterial [ 35 ] properties. Aside from the protein components of the A. fulica mucus, the polysaccharide or glycoconjugate contents of the mucus could be examined by a combination of column chromatography and NMR spectroscopic methods, which were laborious and time-consuming [ 20 ].…”

Interdisciplinary‐Inspired Smart Antibacterial Materials and Their Biomedical Applications

“…[ 194 ] These approaches save time and manpower. [ 195 ] New AMPs or other biomolecules can be designed to specifically target certain pathogens without significant toxicity against other bacterial types, consequently reducing the chance of resistance development. [ 196 ] Simonson et al.…”

“…[194] These approaches save time and manpower. [195] New AMPs or other biomolecules can be designed to specifically target certain pathogens without significant toxicity against other bacterial types, consequently reducing the chance of resistance development. [196] Simonson et al have biomimetically designed a specific AMP which only targets Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), which is inspired by the natural configuration of Mtb cell membrane where a single channel pore (MspA) is in the membrane (Figure 14a).…”