Identificación de péptidos aislados del caracol gigante africano (achatina fulica) y estudio de su actividad antimicrobiana

Abstract

Snails, due to their potential in bioprospecting, have been studied in different settings, one of which is obtaining peptides with therapeutic activity from African snail slime, since antitumor and cosmetic peptides have been identified in this species. The rapid spread of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms in recent decades and the poor development of new antimicrobial drugs has represented a significant public health problem worldwide. Therefore, it is necessary to look for alternatives for the design of new drugs, for example, antimicrobial peptides from snail slime type (PAMs). For the extraction of peptides from the African snail slime, the TRI Reagent®, reagent was used as a total protein extraction method, with a previous treatment with N-acetylcysteine for the elimination of the mucin present in the slime and thus improve the sample quality. Subsequently, the proteins extracted and filtered with AMICON were visualized with SDS gels with tricine at 14 and 16%, obtaining small bands mainly below 10 KDa, confirming the presence of peptides, despite this, the extract evaluated did not show antimicrobial activity. Finally, the data from the CIC (Cancer Research Center) of Spain also reported the isolation of peptides in the samples; however, its identification and synthesis are pending for the evaluation of its antimicrobial activity with pure peptides and in adequate concentrations. These results validate that the methodology used is appropriate for the isolation of peptides from the African snail slime in isolates from the city of Cali.