The world's largest lizard, Komodo
dragons live on five small islands in Indonesia. The saliva of these creatures
contains at least 57 species of bacteria, which are believed to contribute to
the demise of their prey. Yet, the Komodo dragon appears resistant to these
bacteria, and serum from these animals has been shown to have antibacterial
activity. Substances known as cationic antimicrobial peptides (CAMPs) are
produced by nearly all living creatures and are an essential part of the innate
immune system. So, Barney Bishop, Monique van Hoek and colleagues at the
College of Science at George Mason University wondered whether they could
isolate CAMPs from Komodo dragon blood, as they previously had done with
alligator blood to expand the library of known CAMPs for therapeutic studies.
The team used an approach known as
bioprospecting. They incubated Komodo dragon blood with negatively charged
hydrogel particles that they developed to capture the peptides, which are
positively charged. With this method, they identified and sequenced 48
potential CAMPs with mass spectrometry. All but one of these was derived from
histone proteins, which are known to have antimicrobial activities. Eight were
synthesized and tested against Pseudomonas
aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus.
Seven of the peptides showed significant potency against both bacteria. The
eighth was only effective against P. aeruginosa. The researchers conclude that
Komodo dragon blood plasma contains a host of potentially viable antimicrobial
peptides that could help lead to new therapeutics.
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Posted by Dr. Tim Sandle
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