In silico identification of novel antimicrobial peptides from the venom gland transcriptome of the spider Argiope bruennichi (Scopoli, 1772)

Min Kyoung Shin; In-Wook Hwang; Bo-Young Jang; Kyung-Bin Bu; Jung Sun Yoo; Jung-Suk Sung

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2023.1249175

In silico identification of novel antimicrobial peptides from the venom gland transcriptome of the spider Argiope bruennichi (Scopoli, 1772)

Front Microbiol. 2023 Jul 28:14:1249175. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1249175. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Min Kyoung Shin¹, In-Wook Hwang¹, Bo-Young Jang¹, Kyung-Bin Bu¹, Jung Sun Yoo², Jung-Suk Sung¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Life Science, Dongguk University-Seoul, Goyang, Republic of Korea.
² Species Diversity Research Division, National Institute of Biological Resources, Incheon, Republic of Korea.

Abstract

As the emergence and prevalence of antibiotic-resistant strains have resulted in a global crisis, there is an urgent need for new antimicrobial agents. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) exhibit inhibitory activity against a wide spectrum of pathogens and can be utilized as an alternative to conventional antibiotics. In this study, two novel AMPs were identified from the venom transcriptome of the spider Argiope bruennichi (Scopoli, 1772) using in silico methods, and their antimicrobial activity was experimentally validated. Aranetoxin-Ab2a (AATX-Ab2a) and Aranetoxin-Ab3a (AATX-Ab3a) were identified by homology analysis and were predicted to have high levels of antimicrobial activity based on in silico analysis. Both peptides were found to have antibacterial effect against Gram-positive and -negative strains, and, in particular, showed significant inhibitory activity against multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates. In addition, AATX-Ab2a and AATX-Ab3a inhibited animal and vegetable fungal strains, while showing low toxicity to normal human cells. The antimicrobial activity of the peptides was attributed to the increased permeability of microbial membranes. The study described the discovery of novel antibiotic candidates, AATX-Ab2a and AATX-Ab3a, using the spider venom gland transcriptome, and validated an in silico-based method for identifying functional substances from biological resources.

Keywords: Aranetoxin-Ab2a; Aranetoxin-Ab3a; Argiope bruennichi; antimicrobial peptide; in silico analysis; multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa; spider venom gland transcriptome.