Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Luca Domenico D'Andrea, Alessandra Romanelli
Summary: This review provides an overview of Temporins, short peptides secreted by frogs worldwide. They possess antimicrobial activity, primarily against Gram-positive bacteria, including resistant strains. Recent studies have explored their potential as anticancer or antiviral agents. The review focuses on the most extensively studied peptides, discussing their mechanism of action, three-dimensional structure, and analogues designed to enhance bioactivity and reduce toxicity. It also touches on the potential applications of Temporins in drug development, antimicrobial materials, and other technologies.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Wenjie Wang, Wanqing Yang, Shouying Du, Xinping Xi, Chengbang Ma, Lei Wang, Mei Zhou, Tianbao Chen
Summary: Bioactive proteins secreted by amphibian skin glands exhibit antimicrobial and antibiofilm activities, offering potential for treating antibiotic-resistant infections. The antimicrobial peptide temporin-FL and its analogues show potent activity against MRSA, with enhanced efficiency and lower cytotoxicity on mammalian cells. These peptides disrupt bacterial membranes, block biofilm formation, and provide insights for developing new drugs for MRSA infections.
FRONTIERS IN MOLECULAR BIOSCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Maolin Tian, Junfang Liu, Jinwei Chai, Jiena Wu, Xueqing Xu
Summary: Brevinin-2MP is a novel antimicrobial peptide with anti-inflammatory properties that can destroy bacterial cell membranes and inhibit the expression of inflammatory mediators induced by LPS. It has been shown to alleviate acute inflammatory responses and could be a promising candidate for the treatment of bacterial inflammation.
FRONTIERS IN PHARMACOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Infectious Diseases
Yaxian Lin, Siyan Liu, Xinping Xi, Chengbang Ma, Lei Wang, Xiaoling Chen, Zhanzhong Shi, Tianbao Chen, Chris Shaw, Mei Zhou
Summary: Antimicrobial peptide Brevinin-2GUb, extracted from Hylarana guentheri, has modest antimicrobial activity and can be optimized by shortening the peptide while maintaining its bioactivity, with keeping a complete hydrophobic face and increasing net charges being key factors for antimicrobial activity. The analog tB2U-6K showed improved activity against bacteria, including Gram-negative bacteria, clinical isolates, and fungi, addressing aspects of antibiotic resistance.
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Xue-Feng Yang, Xin Liu, Xiao-Yi Yan, De-Jing Shang
Summary: This study explored the effects of frog skin antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) temporin-1CEa and its analogs on ox-LDL induced macrophage-derived foam cells. The results showed that frog skin AMPs significantly improved cell viability, reduced intracellular lipid droplets, and decreased levels of total cholesterol and cholesterol ester. The AMPs also inhibited foam formation by reducing CD36 protein expression and suppressed inflammatory cytokine release by inhibiting the NF-κB and MAPK signaling pathways.
FRONTIERS IN PHARMACOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Milena Mechkarska, Gervonne Barran, Jolanta Kolodziejek, Laurent Coquet, Jerome Leprince, Thierry Jouenne, Norbert Nowotny, J. Michael Conlon
Summary: Skin secretions from Lithobates palmipes, a species of frog found in Trinidad, were analyzed and found to contain 10 host-defense peptides belonging to the ranatuerin-2, brevinin-1, and temporin families. One of the peptides showed decreased antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus but maintained activity against Echerichia coli. Cladistic analysis based on the primary structures of ranaturerin-2 peptides supported the division of New World frogs of the family Ranidae into the genera Lithobates and Rana, with L. palmipes having a sister-group relationship with Lithobates warszewitschii.
COMPARATIVE BIOCHEMISTRY AND PHYSIOLOGY D-GENOMICS & PROTEOMICS
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Wanchen Zou, Yingqi Zhang, Mei Zhou, Xiaoling Chen, Chengbang Ma, Tao Wang, Yangyang Jiang, Tianbao Chen, Chris Shaw, Lei Wang
Summary: Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are promising candidates for next-generation antibiotics. Researchers have developed an efficient modification approach to identify active-core fragments. Fragment 3 shows excellent antimicrobial efficacy and potential therapeutic effects in an insect larvae model.
COMPUTATIONAL AND STRUCTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY JOURNAL
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Shan Zhang, Ming Ma, Zhuang Shao, Jincheng Zhang, Lei Fu, Xiangyuan Li, Weihai Fang, Lianghui Gao
Summary: Temporins are a family of antimicrobial peptides isolated from frog skin, which are very short, weakly charged, and highly hydrophobic. They execute bactericidal activities by folding into α-helices at the membrane surface, extracting lipids, and forming protrusions at high peptide concentrations. These unique antimicrobial mechanisms include lipid extraction and tubule-like protrusion formation.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Haixin Qin, Weimin Zuo, Lilin Ge, Shirley W. I. Siu, Lei Wang, Xiaoling Chen, Chengbang Ma, Tianbao Chen, Mei Zhou, Zhijian Cao, Hang Fai Kwok
Summary: A novel brevinin peptide, B1AW, isolated from the skin secretions of the Wuyi torrent frog, showed antimicrobial activities and anticancer potency. By introducing a lysine residue, B1AW-K was designed to broaden the antimicrobial spectrum and inhibit the growth of various cancer cell lines. B1AW-K demonstrated faster adsorption to the anionic membrane compared to B1AW, suggesting its potential as a dual-action drug prototype that warrants further clinical investigation and validation.
COMPUTATIONAL AND STRUCTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY JOURNAL
(2023)
Article
Microbiology
Maolin Tian, Kai Wang, Yan Liang, Jinwei Chai, Jiena Wu, Haiyun Zhang, Xiaowen Huang, Xin Chen, Xueqing Xu
Summary: In this study, a Brevinin-1 peptide named Brevinin-1GHd was identified from Hoplobatrachus rugulosus, which has potent antimicrobial activity and immune regulation. It can inhibit inflammation and significantly suppress acute edema development in mice, making it a promising novel therapeutic drug for infectious inflammation.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Infectious Diseases
Angela Di Somma, Carolina Cane, Antonio Moretta, Angela Duilio
Summary: Research has recently focused on investigating antimicrobial peptides, particularly Temporins, which have high antibacterial properties against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria by inhibiting FtsZ. Two analogues of Temporin L were designed to improve binding to FtsZ, leading to stable protein-peptide complexes and effective inhibition of bacterial growth at low concentrations. These findings could pave the way for the development of novel peptide drugs targeting FtsZ for future pharmaceutical applications.
Article
Fisheries
Xiao-Li Fan, Shui-Sheng Yu, Jia-Le Zhao, Yue Li, Du-Juan Zhan, Feng Xu, Zhi-Hua Lin, Jie Chen
Summary: Brevinins are a group of proteins with various structural features and strong biological activities. In this study, brevinin-2 cDNA was identified from the skin of the dark-spotted frog and it exhibited antimicrobial activities against several pathogens. The synthetic mature peptide of dark-spotted frog brevinin-2 showed significant wound-healing activity by accelerating the healing of human skin fibroblast cell scratches and stimulating gene expression of growth factors.
DEVELOPMENTAL AND COMPARATIVE IMMUNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Juan Zhang, Yue Sun, Yao Kang, Dejing Shang
Summary: Temporin-1CEa and its analogs LK2(6) and LK2(6)A(L) exhibit anti-inflammatory activity in LPS-stimulated murine macrophages by inhibiting key signaling pathways and reducing production of inflammatory mediators.
MOLECULAR IMMUNOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Yu Zai, Xinping Xi, Zhuming Ye, Chengbang Ma, Mei Zhou, Xiaoling Chen, Shirley W. I. Siu, Tianbao Chen, Lei Wang, Hang Fai Kwok
Summary: Temporin-PF (TPF) was identified as a peptide effective against Gram-positive bacteria but not Gram-negative bacteria. MD simulation showed that the peptides could form oligomers, but substitution of Trp/D-Trp enhanced inter-peptide interaction and eliminated overall biological activities.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Food Science & Technology
Jie Yang, Chengliang Tong, Junmei Qi, Xiaoying Liao, Xiaokun Li, Xu Zhang, Mei Zhou, Lei Wang, Chengbang Ma, Xinping Xi, Tianbao Chen, Yitian Gao, Di Wu
Summary: The Bowman-Birk protease inhibitor family is a well-studied group of proteins mainly found in plants. Recently, attenuated peptides with inhibitory motifs have been discovered in the skin secretions of amphibians, with one peptide named livisin identified in the skin secretion of the green cascade frog. Livisin was found to be a potent inhibitor against several serine proteases. Comparative activity studies were conducted to investigate the structure-activity relationship of livisin, and it was suggested as a potential tool for drug discovery and development.
Article
Endocrinology & Metabolism
Colombe Delage, Lou Breard-Mellin, Caroline Theresine, Sephora Simioneck, Benjamin Lefranc, Jerome Leprince, Magalie Benard, David Vaudry
Summary: This study analyzed the phenotypic and transcriptomic differences of 5 PC12 cell lines from different origins under different conditions. The results showed significant variation in terms of morphology, proliferation rate, motility, adhesion, and gene expression among these cell lines. The study highlights the importance of using well-characterized cell lines and standardized protocols to generate reproducible results.
NEUROENDOCRINOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
J. Michael Conlon, Lauren Hunter, Samir Attoub, Bruno Casciaro, Milena Mechkarska, Yasser H. A. Abdel-Wahab
Summary: Ocellatin-3N is a peptide that inhibits the growth of various bacteria and pathogens, and has potential therapeutic effects. It also regulates insulin release and intracellular calcium ion concentration.
JOURNAL OF PEPTIDE SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Milena Mechkarska, Gervonne Barran, Jolanta Kolodziejek, Laurent Coquet, Jerome Leprince, Thierry Jouenne, Norbert Nowotny, J. Michael Conlon
Summary: Skin secretions from Lithobates palmipes, a species of frog found in Trinidad, were analyzed and found to contain 10 host-defense peptides belonging to the ranatuerin-2, brevinin-1, and temporin families. One of the peptides showed decreased antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus but maintained activity against Echerichia coli. Cladistic analysis based on the primary structures of ranaturerin-2 peptides supported the division of New World frogs of the family Ranidae into the genera Lithobates and Rana, with L. palmipes having a sister-group relationship with Lithobates warszewitschii.
COMPARATIVE BIOCHEMISTRY AND PHYSIOLOGY D-GENOMICS & PROTEOMICS
(2023)
Article
Endocrinology & Metabolism
Marie-Anne Le Solliec, Arnaud Arabo, Saloua Takhlidjt, Julie Maucotel, Melodie Devere, Hind Berrahmoune, Alexandre Benani, Emmanuelle Nedelec, Benjamin Lefranc, Jerome Leprince, Marie Picot, Nicolas Chartrel, Gaetan Prevost
Summary: This study reveals that the absence of 26RFa does not significantly affect the glycemic phenotype in obese/hyperglycemic mice, but it can be compensated by an increase in BAT mass. In diabetic insulin-deficient mice, the antihyperglycemic effect of 26RFa is completely blocked, probably due to the impaired insulin production in this model, preventing the action of the peptide.
Article
Virology
Pia Weidinger, Jolanta Kolodziejek, Tamer Khafaga, Tom Loney, Brigitte Howarth, Moayyed Sher Shah, Ahmad Abou Tayoun, Alawi Alsheikh-Ali, Jeremy V. Camp, Norbert Nowotny
Summary: The study investigated the potential reservoir of viral infectious diseases in humans by sampling wild rodents in a desert reserve in Dubai, UAE. Screening for various viruses revealed negative results, except for herpesviruses. Phylogenetic analysis identified three novel betaherpesviruses and four novel gammaherpesviruses. Species identification of positive gerbils showed a separate clade related to Dipodillus campestris, indicating either an expansion of geographic range or the existence of a closely related, undiscovered species. Overall, no evidence of potentially zoonotic viruses was found in the limited sample size of the rodent cohorts.
Article
Cell Biology
Carmine Rocca, Anna De Bartolo, Rita Guzzi, Maria Caterina Crocco, Vittoria Rago, Naomi Romeo, Ida Perrotta, Ernestina Marianna De Francesco, Maria Grazia Muoio, Maria Concetta Granieri, Teresa Pasqua, Rosa Mazza, Loubna Boukhzar, Benjamin Lefranc, Jerome Leprince, Maria Eugenia Gallo Cantafio, Teresa Soda, Nicola Amodio, Youssef Anouar, Tommaso Angelone
Summary: Cardiac lipotoxicity is a major factor in cardiovascular complications during obesity. A small peptide (PSELT), derived from SELENOT, has been found to protect cardiomyocytes against lipotoxicity. PSELT counteracts cell death, oxidative stress, and lipid accumulation induced by palmitate, and it regulates mitochondrial function and ER network.
Article
Veterinary Sciences
Nicola Joestl, Pia Weidinger, Helga Lussy, Tom A. Bailey, Sunitha Joseph, Sean McKeown, Declan O'Donovan, Xiangdong Li, Norbert Nowotny
Summary: This study investigated the seroprevalence of avian influenza viruses in falcons and other bird species in the United Arab Emirates. The results showed that a small number of falcons and other birds tested positive for antibodies to the H5 and H9 subtypes of avian influenza viruses, indicating a potential risk of close contact between birds and humans.
VETERINARY MEDICINE AND SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Steven Ascoet, Axel Touchard, Nathan Tene, Benjamin Lefranc, Jerome Leprince, Francoise Paquet, Laurence Jouvensal, Valentine Barasse, Michel Treilhou, Arnaud Billet, Elsa Bonnafe
Summary: This study explores the cytotoxic effects and mechanisms of a peptide called U9 isolated from the venom of Tetramorium bicarinatum, a species of ant. It was found that U9, similar to M-Tb1a, can form pores on the cell membrane, but U9 also induces mitochondrial damage and caspase activation in high concentrations. These findings reveal an original mechanism of cytotoxicity for U9 and raise questions about potential valorization and endogenous activity in T. bicarinatum venom.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
J. Michael Conlon, Laure Guilhaudis, Samir Attoub, Laurent Coquet, Jerome Leprince, Thierry Jouenne, Milena Mechkarska
Summary: This study investigated the peptides present in the skin secretions of Leiuperinae species, particularly the Tungara frog. Several previously undescribed peptides were isolated and characterized, including pustulosin-1 and pustulosin-3, which showed cytotoxic activity against human tumor-derived cell lines. However, these peptides also had toxic effects on non-neoplastic human cells. Additionally, the study found that tigerinin-1EP, another identified peptide, exhibited no activity against both tumor-derived cells and bacteria.
Article
Chemistry, Medicinal
Yasaman Karami, Samuel Murail, Julien Giribaldi, Benjamin Lefranc, Florian Defontaine, Olivier Lesouhaitier, Jerome Leprince, Sjoerd de Vries, Pierre Tuffery
Summary: This article introduces a method for the rational design of head-to-tail cyclization linkers. Firstly, the conformation of cyclized peptides can be accurately predicted based on the linear peptide and linker sequence. Secondly, effective candidate linker sequences can be proposed based on inferred information from protein structures. Finally, case studies demonstrate the potential of this approach for cyclic peptide-based drug design.
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL INFORMATION AND MODELING
(2023)
Article
Infectious Diseases
J. Michael Conlon, Laure Guilhaudis, Samir Attoub, Laurent Coquet, Jerome Leprince, Thierry Jouenne, Milena Mechkarska
Summary: Peptidomic analysis of skin secretions from Boana boans frogs led to the isolation and structural characterization of five host-defense peptides with limited structural similarity to figainin 2 and picturin peptides. These peptides showed antimicrobial activity and cytotoxicity against human tumor-derived cells.
Article
Infectious Diseases
Milena Mechkarska, Taylor S. Cunning, Megan G. Taggart, Nigel G. Ternan, Jerome Leprince, Laurent Coquet, Thierry Jouenne, Jordi Tena-Garces, Juan J. Calvete, J. Michael Conlon
Summary: The venom of the Trinidad thick-tailed scorpion contains peptides with antimicrobial activity and potassium channel and sodium channel toxins. Among the peptides, TtAP-1 exhibits strong bactericidal activity against various bacteria and can rapidly kill clinically relevant bacteria. However, its high hemolytic activity limits its potential as an anti-infective agent.
Article
Neurosciences
Karen P. Briski, Prabhat R. Napit, Abdulrahman Alhamyani, Jerome Leprince, A. S. M. Hasan Mahmood
Summary: Central endozepinergic signaling is implicated in glucose homeostasis. Ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VMN) metabolic monitoring governs glucose counter-regulation. Current research addresses the premise that the astrocyte glio-peptide octadecaneuropeptide (ODN) imposes sex-dimorphic control of metabolic sensor activity and neurotransmitter signaling in these neurons.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Giovanni Pacini, Bo Ahren
Summary: Tirzepatide stimulates both insulin secretion and glucose effectiveness, with stimulation of glucose effectiveness being the prominent process to reduce glucose.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Si -yu Wang, Yu-zhe Zhang, Xiao-han Liu, Xue-ci Guo, Xiao-fang Wang, Feng-tong Han, Yao Zhang, Chang -lin Wang
Summary: In the formalin pain test, the EM-2 analogs EM-2-Me, EM-2-Et, and EM-2-Bu showed significant analgesic effects with reduced tolerance and gastrointestinal side effects. These effects were mediated through central opioid mechanisms, with EM-2-Me possibly involving dynorphin A release and EM-2-Bu directly activating multiple opioid receptors.