Poster Presentation 11th Asia-Pacific Congress of the International Society on Toxinology 2021

Structural characterisation of Asterias rubens peptides highlight similarities with toxin structural motifs (#115)

Rozita Takjoo 1 , Casey A. Schmidt 1 , David T. Wilson 1 , Alex Loukas 1 , Michael J. Smout 1 , Norelle L. Daly 1
  1. Centre for Molecular Therapeutics, Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University, Cairns, QLD, Australia

Marine organisms represent an exceptional source of bioactive compounds that have been used as pharmacological tools and drug leads. Starfishes have been used extensively as a model system to study the regeneration process after autotomy or predation. They are a rich source of compounds, with a range of bioactivities including antimicrobial, antitumour, antimutagenic, cytotoxic, hemolytic, antifungal, and wound healing activities. The coelomic proteome of the common starfish Asterias rubens has recently been studied and highlighted a range of peptides potentially involved in wound healing. Coelomocytes are involved in the very early stages of regeneration, specifically in the wound healing phase. Despite the potential of these peptides there is no structural information and no bioassays have been carried out on the isolated peptides. In the current study a range of peptides have been analysed including a peptide containing a structural motif highly prevalent in toxins from venomous creatures. The insight gained from this study is likely to enhance the understanding of the structure/function relationships of peptides from the starfish Asterias rubens and might also be useful in developing novel wound healing agents.