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

Posted by
  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...

Record of the cob-web spider Parasteatoda tepidariorum (C. L. Koch, 1841) (Araneae: Theridiidae) feeding on the scorpion Tityus serrulatus (Lutz & Mello 1922) (Scorpiones: Buthidae) in urban area of Brazil

Posted by

 


Record of the cob-web spider Parasteatoda tepidariorum (C. L. Koch, 1841) (Araneae: Theridiidae) feeding on the scorpion Tityus serrulatus (Lutz & Mello 1922) (Scorpiones: Buthidae) in urban area of Brazil


The cob-web spider Parasteatoda tepidariorum (C. L. Koch, 1841) (Araneae: Theridiidae) is a species that probably has tropical South American origin (Levi, 1967) but currently has a cosmopolitan distribution and is highly synanthropic (Oda & Akiyama-Oda, 2020). Parasteatoda tepidariorum is a generalist and opportunistic predator that weaves a patternless and tangled web, where it waits for and attacks prey that fall into it (Blasco-Ar6steguii & Calatayud­ Mascarell, 2023). Their diet is mainly based on insects (Nentwig, 1987), although there are also records this spider predating other arachnids and even small vertebrates. 

Special thanks to Glauco Cássio de Sousa Oliveira for providing me this full-text article. The article appears in the Newsletter of the British Arachnological Society, No. 159, Spring 2024 - Via ResearchGate

Sousa Oliveira, Glauco & Lara, Jéssica & OIiveira, Sabrina & Souza, Marcos. (2024). Record of the cob-web spider Parasteatoda tepidariorum (C. L. Koch, 1841) (Araneae: Theridiidae) feeding on the scorpion Tityus serrulatus (Lutz & Mello 1922) (Scorpiones: Buthidae) in urban area of Brazil. 159. 5-7.