Licencee PD, D'Suze G, Salazar V, Sevcik C, Shannon JD, Sherman N, Fox JW
Antibacterial activity of six novel peptides from tityus discrepans scorpion venom. A fluorescent probe study of microbial membrane na+permeability changes. [JOURNAL ARTICLE]
Toxicon 2009 Jun 18.
Six novel peptides (named bactridines) were isolated from Tityus discrepans scorpion venom. From mass spectrometry molecular masses were 6916, 7362, 7226, 7011, 7101 and 7173 Da (bactridines 1 to 6). Bactridines 1 and 2 were sequenced by Edman degradation. The sequences and in silico analysis, indicated that they are positively charged polypeptides comprised of 61 and 64 amino acids (AA), respectively, bactridine 1 and bactridine 2 containing 4 disulfide bridges. Bactridine 1 was only toxic to cockroaches and bactridine 2 to 6 were only toxic to mice.Bactridine 1 has a 78% sequence identity with ardiscretin, an insect specific sodium current blocker. Measured as the minimal inhibitory concentration, bactridines had high antibacterial activity against a wide range of Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria. Complete bacterial growth inhibition occurred at concentrations from 20 to 80 uM depending on the bacteria and peptide tested. E ffects on membrane Na+ permeability induced by bactridines were observed on Yersinia enterocolitica loaded with 1 uM CoroNaTM Red. CoroNaTM Red fluorescence leakage from bacteria was observed after exposure to 0.3 uM of any bactridine tested, indicating that they modified Na+ membrane permeability. This effect was blocked by 10 uM amiloride and by 25 uM ibefradil drugs that aff ct Na+ and Ca+2 channels respectively. We found no evidence of changes of K+ or Ca+2 concentrations neiter inside nor outside the bacteria in experiments using the fluorescent dyes Fluo 4AM (10 uM) and PBFI (20 uM).
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