The application of high throughput sequencing technologies to non-model organisms has brought new opportunities for the identification of bioactive peptides from genomes and transcriptomes. From this point of view, marine invertebrates represent a potentially rich, yet largely unexplored resource for de novo discovery due to their adaptation to diverse challenging habitats. Bioinformatics analyses of available genomic and trascriptomic data allowed us to identify myticalins, a novel family of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) from the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis and a similar family of AMPs from Modiolus spp., named modiocalins. Their coding sequence encompasses two conserved N-terminal (signal peptide) and C-terminal (propeptide) regions and a hypervariable central cationic region corresponding to the mature peptide. Myticalins are taxonomically restricted to Mytiloida and they can be classified into four subfamilies. These AMPs are subject to considerable inter-individual sequence variability and, possibly, to presence/absence variation. Functional assays performed on selected members of this family indicate a remarkable tissue-specific expression (in gills) and broad spectrum of activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Overall, we present the first linear AMPs ever described in marine mussels and confirm the great potential of bioinformatics tools for the de novo discovery of bioactive peptides in non-model organisms.

Myticalins: a novel multigenic family of linear, cationic antimicrobial peptides from marine mussels (Mytilus spp.)

VENIER, PAOLA;
2017

Abstract

The application of high throughput sequencing technologies to non-model organisms has brought new opportunities for the identification of bioactive peptides from genomes and transcriptomes. From this point of view, marine invertebrates represent a potentially rich, yet largely unexplored resource for de novo discovery due to their adaptation to diverse challenging habitats. Bioinformatics analyses of available genomic and trascriptomic data allowed us to identify myticalins, a novel family of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) from the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis and a similar family of AMPs from Modiolus spp., named modiocalins. Their coding sequence encompasses two conserved N-terminal (signal peptide) and C-terminal (propeptide) regions and a hypervariable central cationic region corresponding to the mature peptide. Myticalins are taxonomically restricted to Mytiloida and they can be classified into four subfamilies. These AMPs are subject to considerable inter-individual sequence variability and, possibly, to presence/absence variation. Functional assays performed on selected members of this family indicate a remarkable tissue-specific expression (in gills) and broad spectrum of activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Overall, we present the first linear AMPs ever described in marine mussels and confirm the great potential of bioinformatics tools for the de novo discovery of bioactive peptides in non-model organisms.
2017
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
Leoni et al 2017 Mar Drugs_Selezione VQR 2015-2019.pdf

accesso aperto

Tipologia: Published (publisher's version)
Licenza: Creative commons
Dimensione 7.63 MB
Formato Adobe PDF
7.63 MB Adobe PDF Visualizza/Apri
Pubblicazioni consigliate

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11577/3240290
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? 19
  • Scopus 60
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 53
  • OpenAlex ND
social impact