Peptide biodiscovery from plants and animals: structure to function

Our venture into peptide biodiscovery has expanded from cyclotides only to many other sources. Over the last years we have identified novel peptides from diverse sets of plants, marine sponges and worms [1,2]. The molecular targets have been determined for some of these peptides, and we are currently exploring how we can capitalize on these new structures and activities. For example, how can we use the antimicrobial properties of host defence peptides, and can we find new strategies to use privileged peptide structures for drug development? And what can we learn from factors such as peptide occurrence, expression, localization and biosynthetic machinery [3,4]?

Here, I will try to answer those questions, and give examples of how we use such information for peptide discovery, and design and production of novel peptide structures inspired from nature.

Keywords: Peptide biodiscovery, cyclotides, sponge peptides, cacti.

References:

[1] Aboye TL, Strömstedt AA, Gunasekera S, Bruhn JG, El-Seedi H, Rosengren KJ, Göransson U. A cactus-derived toxin-like cystine knot Peptide with selective antimicrobial activity. Chembiochem 2015; 16: 1068 – 1077

[2] Carstens BB, Rosengren KJ, Gunasekera S, Schempp S, Bohlin L, Dahlström M, Clark RJ, Göransson U. Isolation, Characterization, and Synthesis of the Barrettides: Disulfide-Containing Peptides from the Marine Sponge Geodia barretti. J Nat Prod 2015; 78: 1886 – 1893

[3] Burman R, Yeshak MY, Larsson S, Craik DJ, Rosengren KJ, Göransson U. Distribution of circular proteins in plants: large-scale mapping of cyclotides in the Violaceae. Front Plant Sci 2015; 6: 855

[4] Slazak B, Kapusta B, Malik S, Bohdanowicz J, Kuta E, Malec P, Göransson U. Immunolocalization of cyclotides in plant cells, tissue and organs. Submitted 2016.