title: Structural and biological characterization of mastoparans in the venom of Vespa species in Taiwan.
abstract: Mastoparans, a family of small peptides, are isolated from the wasp venom. In this study, six mastoparans were identified in the venom of six Vespa species in Taiwan. The precursors of these mastoparans are composed of N-terminal signal sequence, prosequence, mature mastoparan, and appendix glycine at C-terminus. These mature mastoparans all have characteristic features of linear cationic peptides rich in hydrophobic and basic amino acids without disulfide bond. Therefore, these peptides could be predicted to adopt an amphipathic α-helical secondary structure. In fact, the CD (circular dichroism) spectra of these peptides show a high content α-helical conformation in the presence of 8 mM SDS or 40% 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol (TFE). All mastoparans exhibit mast cell degranulation activity, antimicrobial activity against both Gram-positive and -negative bacteria tested, various degree of hemolytic activity on chicken, human, and sheep erythrocytes as well as membrane permeabilization on Escherichia coli BL21. Our results also show that the hemolytic activity of mastoparans is correlated to mean hydrophobicity and mean hydrophobic moment.
authors: Department of Entomology, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan, ROC.
authors: Chun-Hsien
authors: CH
authors: Lin
authors: Jason T C
authors: JT
authors: Tzen
authors: Ching-Lin
authors: CL
authors: Shyu
authors: Mars J
authors: MJ
authors: Yang
authors: Wu-Chun
authors: WC
authors: Tu
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D001483:Base Sequence; D015550:Cell Degranulation / Q000187:drug effects; D002645:Chickens; D006461:Hemolysis / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D008407:Mast Cells / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D012756:Sheep; D013624:Taiwan; D014862:Wasp Venoms / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D014863:Wasps / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D010455:Peptides; D014862:Wasp Venoms; C037500:mastoparan