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...

Prey killing rate of a generalist predator may be enhanced by macronutrient manipulation

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Prey killing rate of a generalist predator may be enhanced by macronutrient manipulation

Abstract

Generalist arthropod predators forage not only to gain energy and nutrients, but also to obtain a balanced intake of macronutrients (the intake target). We test two opposite hypotheses concerning the predation rate of nutritionally imbalanced predators: It will increase (1) if the prey is rich in macronutrients that the predator is short of, or (2) if the prey is low in macronutrients that the predator is short of. We used the wolf spider Pardosa amentata (Clerck) as the predator and nutritionally manipulated Drosophila melanogaster Meigen as prey. We completed a full factorial experiment with eight treatment groups, in which we measured predation, consumption and prey utilization of high-protein (HP) and high-lipid (HL) flies by spiders that were previously treated with either HP- or HL-flies for two or six days. The results supported hypothesis 2. Whether spiders had been previously fed HP-or HL-flies, those that were tested against the same type of fly killed more than those tested against the opposite type of fly. A likely explanation for this result is that the predator will be unable to reach its macronutritional intake target by continued feeding on the same prey. It will stay nutritionally imbalanced and continue to catch prey in an attempt to redress its imbalance. In natural systems, predation rates may thus be increased by the widespread mismatch between predators’ nutritional demands and what is available in prey. In practical biological control, it suggests a beneficial effect of feeding the predator prior to release with the pest it is intended to control.

Toft, S., Albuquerque, C., Degn, N. et al. Prey killing rate of a generalist predator may be enhanced by macronutrient manipulation. BioControl (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-024-10251-8