title: The Chinese bamboo leaf odorous frog (Rana (Odorrana) versabilis) and North American Rana frogs share the same families of skin antimicrobial peptides.
abstract: The Chinese bamboo leaf odorous frog (Rana (Odorrana) versabilis) and the North American pickerel frog (Rana palustris) occupy different ecological niches on two different continents with no overlap in geographical distribution. R. palustris skin secretions contain a formidable array of antimicrobial peptides including homologs of brevinin-1, esculentin-1, esculentin-2, ranatuerin-2, a temporin and a family of peptides considered of unique structural attributes when isolated, palustrins 1-3. Here we describe the structures of mature peptides and precursors of eight putative antimicrobial peptides from the skin secretion of the Chinese bamboo leaf odorous frog (Rana (Odorrana) versabilis). Each peptide represents a structural homolog of respective peptide families isolated from R. palustris, including two peptides identical in primary structure to palustrin 1c and palustrin 3b. Additionally, two peptides were found to be structural homologs of ranatuerin 2B and ranatuerin 2P from the closely-related North American species, Rana berlandieri (the Rio Grande leopard frog) and Rana pipiens (the Northern leopard frog), respectively. Both palustrins and ranatuerins have hitherto been considered unique to North American ranid frogs. The use of primary structures of amphibian skin antimicrobial peptides is thus questionable as a taxonomic device or alternatively, the micro-evolution and/or ancestry of ranid frogs is more highly complex than previously thought.
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy, Queen's University, Belfast BT9 7BL, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Tianbao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Mei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Pingfan
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Shaw
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011898:Ranidae; D031787:Sasa / Q000378:metabolism*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D012867:Skin / Q000378:metabolism; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides; D018076:DNA, Complementary