Biotechnology of Macromolecules Research Group, Instituto de Productos Naturales y Agrobiología, (IPNA-CSIC), Avda. Astrofísico Francisco Sánchez, 3, 38206 San Cristóbal de la Laguna, Spain.
Biological Activity Service, Instituto de Productos Naturales y Agrobiología, (IPNA-CSIC), Avda. Astrofísico Francisco Sánchez, 3, 38206 San Cristóbal de la Laguna, Spain.
Molecules. 2021 Mar 23;26(6):1811. doi: 10.3390/molecules26061811.
Bats are unique in their potential to serve as reservoir hosts for intracellular pathogens. Recently, the impact of COVID-19 has relegated bats from biomedical darkness to the frontline of public health as bats are the natural reservoir of many viruses, including SARS-Cov-2. Many bat genomes have been sequenced recently, and sequences coding for antimicrobial peptides are available in the public databases. Here we provide a structural analysis of genome-predicted bat cathelicidins as components of their innate immunity. A total of 32 unique protein sequences were retrieved from the NCBI database. Interestingly, some bat species contained more than one cathelicidin. We examined the conserved cysteines within the cathelin-like domain and the peptide portion of each sequence and revealed phylogenetic relationships and structural dissimilarities. The antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral activity of peptides was examined using bioinformatic tools. The peptides were modeled and subjected to docking analysis with the region binding domain (RBD) region of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein. The appearance of multiple forms of cathelicidins verifies the complex microbial challenges encountered by these species. Learning more about antiviral defenses of bats and how they drive virus evolution will help scientists to investigate the function of antimicrobial peptides in these species.
蝙蝠在作为细胞内病原体的储存宿主方面具有独特的潜力。最近，由于蝙蝠是许多病毒（包括 SARS-CoV-2）的天然宿主，因此 COVID-19 的影响将蝙蝠从生物医学的黑暗中推向了公共卫生的前线。最近已经对许多蝙蝠基因组进行了测序，并且公共数据库中提供了编码抗菌肽的序列。在这里，我们提供了对基因组预测的蝙蝠防御素作为其先天免疫的组成部分的结构分析。从 NCBI 数据库中总共检索到 32 个独特的蛋白质序列。有趣的是，一些蝙蝠物种包含不止一种防御素。我们检查了富含半胱氨酸的抗菌肽样结构域和每个序列的肽部分内的保守半胱氨酸，并揭示了系统发育关系和结构差异。使用生物信息学工具检查了肽的抗菌、抗真菌和抗病毒活性。对肽进行建模，并与 SARS-CoV-2 刺突蛋白的区域结合结构域（RBD）进行对接分析。多种形式防御素的出现证实了这些物种所面临的复杂微生物挑战。更多地了解蝙蝠的抗病毒防御能力以及它们如何推动病毒进化将帮助科学家研究这些物种中抗菌肽的功能。
