Bioactive evaluations of novel peptide QUB-2552 from the skin secretion of the Chinese Large Odorous frog, Rana (Odorrana) livida

Abstract

Amphibian skin secretions are rich resources of bioactive peptides, some of which could be developed as drug candidates. Among these natural peptides, antimicrobial peptides have attracted great attention given that they might help to deal with the problem of antibiotic resistance. In this study, the precursor-encoding cDNA sequence of a novel bioactive peptide QUB-2552 was identified in the skin secretion of Chinese Large Odorous frog, Rana (Odorrana) livida, by applying ‘Shotgun’ cloning method. The novel peptide was synthesised by using Solid Phase Peptide Synthesis strategy. After the synthetic peptide was identified and purified by Matrix-assisted, laser desorption, ionisation, time-offlight (MALDI-TOF) and Reversed-Phase High Performance Liquid Chromatography (RP-HPLC). QUB-2552 was subjected to functional tests and it was found to have moderate antimicrobial effect against C. albicans and S. aureus. Meanwhile, it has weak inhibitory effect against PC-3 and U251MG, but it did not exhibit haemolytic effect. It is expected that this study will contribute to the finding of novel AMPs and the design of novel antibiotics.

Date of Award	Aug 2018
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Queen's University Belfast
Supervisor	Yuxin Wu (Supervisor), Tianbao Chen (Supervisor), Christopher Shaw (Supervisor), Mei Zhou (Supervisor) & Lei Wang (Supervisor)