Characterization of the Molecular Diversity and Degranulation Activity of Mastoparan Family Peptides from Wasp Venoms

作者：Xiangdong Ye, Xin Liu, Xudong Luo, Fang Sun, Chenhu Qin, Ding Li, Wen Zhu, Huajun Zhang, Haimei Zhou, Zongyun Chen · 发表于：Toxins · 年份：2023 · DOI：10.3390/toxins15050331 · 被引用次数：11 · 研究领域：Antimicrobial Peptides and Activities、Insect and Pesticide Research、Healthcare and Venom Research

Wasp stings have become an increasingly serious public health problem because of their high incidence and mortality rates in various countries and regions. Mastoparan family peptides are the most abundant natural peptides in hornet venoms and solitary wasp venom. However, there is a lack of systematic and comprehensive studies on mastoparan family peptides from wasp venoms. In our study, for the first time, we evaluated the molecular diversity of 55 wasp mastoparan family peptides from wasp venoms and divided them into four major subfamilies. Then, we established a wasp peptide library containing all 55 known mastoparan family peptides by chemical synthesis and C-terminal amidation modification, and we systematically evaluated their degranulation activities in two mast cell lines, namely the RBL-2H3 and P815 cell lines. The results showed that among the 55 mastoparans, 35 mastoparans could significantly induce mast cell degranulation, 7 mastoparans had modest mast cell degranulation activity, and 13 mastoparans had little mast cell degranulation activity, suggesting functional variation in mastoparan family peptides from wasp venoms. Structure-function relationship studies found that the composition of amino acids in the hydrophobic face and amidation in the C-terminal region are critical for the degranulation activity of mastoparan family peptides from wasp venoms. Our research will lay a theoretical foundation for studying the mechanism underlying the degranulation activity...