In silico prospecting and identification of bioactive peptides with antifungal potential from Handroanthus impetiginosus
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55892/jrg.v9i20.3240Keywords:
Antimicrobial peptides, Handroanthus impetiginosus, in silico screening, bioinformaticsAbstract
Antimicrobial resistance represents one of the main contemporary challenges for global public health, driving the search for new bioactive molecules with therapeutic potential. Among the promising alternatives, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) of plant origin stand out, especially defensins, due to their broad antimicrobial activity, high structural stability, and biotechnological potential. In this study, a bioinformatics pipeline was applied for in silico prospecting of defensin-like peptides in the proteome of Handroanthus impetiginosus. Initially, a reference bank containing 392 previously characterized plant defensins, obtained from UniProt, was constructed and subsequently used in similarity analyses by BLASTp against the complete proteome of the species. The analyses resulted in the identification of 4,819 sequences with similarity to plant defensins, which were subjected to structural filtering through the identification of conserved domains using Batch CD-Search. This step allowed the selection of 18 sequences containing domains characteristic of defensins, including Gamma-thionin, Knot-1, Knot-1 superfamily, and Defensin-like. Physicochemical characterization revealed a predominance of proteins with cationic character, high isoelectric point values, and negative GRAVY indices, consistent with typical AMP properties. Signal peptide prediction reduced the set to seven sequences with architecture compatible with mature secreted defensins. All selected sequences were classified as antimicrobial peptides with maximum probability by the Antimicrobial Peptide Scanner v2. Additionally, structural analyses performed in HeliQuest showed moderate hydrophobicity and amphipathic organization compatible with interaction with biological membranes. Taken together, the results demonstrate that the proteome of H. impetiginosus represents a promising source of plant defensins with antimicrobial potential. Furthermore, the computational strategy employed proved efficient in identifying and prioritizing biologically plausible candidates, providing a robust basis for future experimental validations and biotechnological applications.
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