Molecular Recognition and Immunopharmacological Implications of Serratiopeptidase Targeting Snake Venom Bradykinin-Potentiating Peptides

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  Molecular Recognition and Immunopharmacological Implications of Serratiopeptidase Targeting Snake Venom Bradykinin-Potentiating Peptides Abstract Purpose Bradykinin-potentiating peptides (BPPs), found in snake venom, are known to modulate cardiovascular functions, but their susceptibility to enzymatic degradation remains poorly understood. Methods Models were generated using AlphaFold-Colab for five small BPPs (< 9 amino acids) that did not have experimentally solved structures, and those BPPs which had reliable predictions of structure (pLDDT > 80) were used for docking studies. Protein-peptide docking experiments were done using HADDOCK for studying the interaction between wild-type (WT) and mutant serratiopeptidase with BPPs. After selecting the best complex, simulation of the complex was done using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations for 100 ns and binding energy determination using MM/PBSA analysis. For checking the mechanical stability of the protein-peptide complexes...

Seasonal variation of arthropod diversity in agroforestry systems in the humid tropics of Mexico

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Seasonal variation of arthropod diversity in agroforestry systems in the humid tropics of Mexico

Abstract

Agroforestry systems in the tropics exhibit high heterogeneity in plant species composition and structural configuration. However, few studies evaluated the seasonal shift in arthropod alpha diversity and abundance in agroforestry systems in the tropics. This study was designed to analyze the composition, abundance, and alpha diversity of arthropod orders in five agroforestry systems in the humid tropic of Tabasco, Mexico. The agroforestry systems compared were shade trees in plantations (ShTP), living fences (LF), alley farming (AF), slash-and-burn agriculture (SBA), and grazing plantations (GP) during dry and rainy seasons. Arthropods were collected using pitfall traps, classified at the order level, and counted to estimate the abundance. A total of 10,271 arthropod individuals were collected that belong to seven orders. Hymenoptera was the most abundant group, accounting for 64.7% of the total count, followed by Coleoptera, Collembola, Araneae, Hemiptera, Diptera, and Orthoptera. Arthropod alpha diversity and abundance varied significantly among the agroforestry systems and between the rainy and dry seasons. The agroforestry systems AF, GP, and ShTP showed a higher diversity (Shannon index) and dominant orders (Simpson index) in the rainy season compared to the dry season. The seasonal shift of the different arthropod orders varied among agroforestry systems, while the Orthoptera did seasonally vary across the agroforestry systems. This study suggests the interactive effects of seasons and agroforestry systems on arthropod abundance and diversity.

Lara-Pérez, L.A., Villanueva-López, G., Oros-Ortega, I. et al. Seasonal variation of arthropod diversity in agroforestry systems in the humid tropics of Mexico. Arthropod-Plant Interactions (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11829-023-10001-0