Dual Activity Microbial Peptides Catalog

Area of Science:

• Microbiology
• Biochemistry
• Computational Biology

Background:

• Antibiotic resistance and cancer are critical global health threats.
• Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) show promise as alternatives to antibiotics.
• Some AMPs also possess anticancer peptide (ACP) activity, offering dual therapeutic potential.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify microbial peptides with dual antimicrobial and anticancer activity.
• To address the underrepresentation of ACPs in databases by exploring microbial sources.
• To create a curated catalog of these dual-activity peptides.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a consensus strategy with three ACP and two AMP prediction tools.
• Screened over 124 million microbial small open reading frames (smORFs).
• Filtered for non-toxic peptides exhibiting dual activity.

Main Results:

• Identified 40,251 non-toxic microbial peptides with dual AMP and ACP properties.
• Compiled these findings into the Dual Activity Microbial Peptides Catalog (DAMPC).
• DAMPC is a searchable resource for dual-activity, non-toxic microbial peptide sequences.

Conclusions:

• Microbial sources harbor a significant number of peptides with dual antimicrobial and anticancer activities.
• The DAMPC provides a valuable resource for further research and development of novel therapeutics.
• This catalog facilitates the exploration of microbial peptides for combating antibiotic resistance and cancer.