• DOI:10.1007/s10142-014-0366-3
• Corpus ID: 18793966

Antimicrobial peptides in the centipede Scolopendra subspinipes mutilans

@article{Yoo2014AntimicrobialPI,
  title={Antimicrobial peptides in the centipede Scolopendra subspinipes mutilans},
  author={Won Gi Yoo and Joon-Ha Lee and Younhee Shin and J Y Shim and Myunghee Jung and Byeong-chul Kang and Jae-Don Oh and Jiyeon Seong and Hak Koy Lee and Hong Sik Kong and Ki-Duk Song and Eun‐Young Yun and In-woo Kim and Young Nam Kwon and Dong Gun Lee and Ui Wook Hwang and Junhyung Park and Jae‐Sam Hwang},
  journal={Functional \& Integrative Genomics},
  year={2014},
  volume={14},
  pages={275-283}
}

• W. Yoo, Joon-Ha Lee, +15 authors Jae‐Sam Hwang
• Published 21 March 2014
• Biology
• Functional & Integrative Genomics

The centipede Scolopendra subspinipes mutilans is an environmentally beneficial and medically important arthropod species. Although this species is increasingly applied as a reliable source of new antimicrobial peptides, the transcriptome of this species is a prerequisite for more rational selection of antimicrobial peptides. In this report, we isolated total RNA from the whole body of adult centipedes, S. subspinipes mutilans, that were nonimmunized and immunized against Escherichia coli, and we generated a total of 77,063 pooled contigs and singletons using high-throughput sequencing. To screen putative antimicrobial peptides, in silico analyses of the S. subspinipes mutilans transcriptome were performed based on the physicochemical evidence of length, charge, isoelectric point, and in vitro and in vivo aggregation scores together with the existence of continuous antimicrobial peptide stretches. Moreover, we excluded some transcripts that showed similarity with both previously known antimicrobial peptides and the human proteome, had a proteolytic cleavage site, and had downregulated expression compared with the nonimmunized sample. As a result, we selected 17 transcripts and tested their antimicrobial activity with a radial diffusion assay. Among them, ten synthetic peptides experimentally showed antimicrobial activity against microbes and no toxicity to mouse erythrocytes. Our results provide not only a useful set of antimicrobial peptide candidates and an efficient strategy for novel antimicrobial peptide development but also the transcriptome data of a big centipede as a valuable resource.