Harnessing snake venom cardiotoxins for antimicrobial peptide discovery

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  Harnessing snake venom cardiotoxins for antimicrobial peptide discovery Abstract Snake venoms are a rich source of bioactive molecules with considerable potential for drug discovery. Cardiotoxins (CTXs) from cobras ( Naja spp.) are membrane-active venom proteins and promising templates for antimicrobial peptide development. Here, we combined two computational toxin-mining strategies to identify antimicrobial peptide candidates from CTXs. First, AMPA-guided sequence mining was used to detect encrypted antimicrobial regions within CTX sequences. Second, sequence alignment and consensus-sequence analysis were employed to generate peptides from a conserved CTX scaffold. Candidate peptides were prioritised using multiple machine learning- and deep learning-based antimicrobial peptide prediction tools, resulting in fourteen CTX-inspired peptides, including two modified derivatives of CTX-p5. Antimicrobial screening showed limited activity across the peptide panel, with CTX-p5 exhibiti...

Phylogeny of the Neotropical Hypoctonine Whip-Scorpions (Thelyphonida, Thelyphonidae), with Descriptions of Two New Genera and Species

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Phylogeny of the Neotropical Hypoctonine Whip-Scorpions (Thelyphonida, Thelyphonidae), with Descriptions of Two New Genera and Species

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Thelyphonida, also known as vinegaroons or whip-scorpions, is a small arachnid order with 140 described species. Despite being conspicuous and widely distributed across the tropics and subtropics on four continents, knowledge of the order has been slow to advance. The genus Thelyphonellus, a member of subfamily Hypoctoninae, consisted of four species described prior to the present contribution. In this study, the first detailed morphological study and phylogenetic analysis of Thelyphonellus is presented. The analysis includes all except one of the previously described species of Thelyphonellus in addition to two new species described herein, the species of Ravilops (from the Caribbean island of Hispaniola), and the West African genus Etienneus. A single, optimal phylogenetic hypothesis placed Ravilops nested within Thelyphonellus. Four lineages with disjunct distributions, each characterized by a combination of characters, were recovered by the analysis of Hypoctoninae. Based on these results, four genera, two of which are new, are recognized: Ravilops, Thelyphonellus, Wounaan (new genus), and Yekuana (new genus). Two new species, classified in Wounaan and Yekuana, are described and illustrated. A key to the identification of the Neotropical genera of Hypoctoninae and a map plotting the known distribution of its species are also presented.

Botero-Trujillo R, Moreno-González JA, Prendini L. Phylogeny of the Neotropical Hypoctonine Whip-Scorpions (Thelyphonida, Thelyphonidae), with Descriptions of Two New Genera and Species. Insects. 2024; 15(10):761. https://doi.org/10.3390/insects15100761