The Wild Bee Venom - Rich Source of Antimicrobial Peptides

摘要

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) which kill bacteria with fundamentally different mode of action than do traditional antibiotics represent new trend in the fight against resistant pathogens. In our laboratory we have focused on the search of novel AMPs identified in the venom of hymenopterans. We have found that the venom of wild bees offers promising source of AMPs showing potent antimicrobial activity and low or moderate toxicity to eukaryotic cells [1-6]. After identifying their primary structure we synthesized these AMPs for biological assays and structural studies. In addition, we prepared several analogs attempting to improve their biologically properties.