The Biological and Biophysical Properties of the Spider Peptide Gomesin

This review summarises the current knowledge of Gomesin (Gm), an 18-residue long, cationic anti-microbial peptide originally isolated from the haemocytes of the Brazilian tarantula Acanthoscurria gomesiana. The peptide shows potent cytotoxic activity against clinically relevant microbes including Gr...

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Main Authors: Tanner, J., Deplazes, Evelyne, Mancera, Ricardo
Format: Journal Article
Published: M D P I AG 2018
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/72673
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author Tanner, J.
Deplazes, Evelyne
Mancera, Ricardo
author_facet Tanner, J.
Deplazes, Evelyne
Mancera, Ricardo
author_sort Tanner, J.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description This review summarises the current knowledge of Gomesin (Gm), an 18-residue long, cationic anti-microbial peptide originally isolated from the haemocytes of the Brazilian tarantula Acanthoscurria gomesiana. The peptide shows potent cytotoxic activity against clinically relevant microbes including Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, fungi, and parasites. In addition, Gm shows in-vitro and in-vivo anti-cancer activities against several human and murine cancers. The peptide exerts its cytotoxic activity by permeabilising cell membranes, but the underlying molecular mechanism of action is still unclear. Due to its potential as a therapeutic agent, the structure and membrane-binding properties, as well as the leakage and cytotoxic activities of Gm have been studied using a range of techniques. This review provides a summary of these studies, with a particular focus on biophysical characterisation studies of peptide variants that have attempted to establish a structure-activity relationship. Future studies are still needed to rationalise the binding affinity and cell-type-specific selectivity of Gm and its variants, while more pre-clinical studies are required to develop Gm into a therapeutically useful peptide.
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
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publishDate 2018
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-726732019-01-15T03:08:09Z The Biological and Biophysical Properties of the Spider Peptide Gomesin Tanner, J. Deplazes, Evelyne Mancera, Ricardo This review summarises the current knowledge of Gomesin (Gm), an 18-residue long, cationic anti-microbial peptide originally isolated from the haemocytes of the Brazilian tarantula Acanthoscurria gomesiana. The peptide shows potent cytotoxic activity against clinically relevant microbes including Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, fungi, and parasites. In addition, Gm shows in-vitro and in-vivo anti-cancer activities against several human and murine cancers. The peptide exerts its cytotoxic activity by permeabilising cell membranes, but the underlying molecular mechanism of action is still unclear. Due to its potential as a therapeutic agent, the structure and membrane-binding properties, as well as the leakage and cytotoxic activities of Gm have been studied using a range of techniques. This review provides a summary of these studies, with a particular focus on biophysical characterisation studies of peptide variants that have attempted to establish a structure-activity relationship. Future studies are still needed to rationalise the binding affinity and cell-type-specific selectivity of Gm and its variants, while more pre-clinical studies are required to develop Gm into a therapeutically useful peptide. 2018 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/72673 10.3390/molecules23071733 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ M D P I AG fulltext
spellingShingle Tanner, J.
Deplazes, Evelyne
Mancera, Ricardo
The Biological and Biophysical Properties of the Spider Peptide Gomesin
title The Biological and Biophysical Properties of the Spider Peptide Gomesin
title_full The Biological and Biophysical Properties of the Spider Peptide Gomesin
title_fullStr The Biological and Biophysical Properties of the Spider Peptide Gomesin
title_full_unstemmed The Biological and Biophysical Properties of the Spider Peptide Gomesin
title_short The Biological and Biophysical Properties of the Spider Peptide Gomesin
title_sort biological and biophysical properties of the spider peptide gomesin
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/72673