Evaluating a bioactivity peptide from the skin secretion of Phyllomedusa tarsius (tarsier leaf frog)

Herein, a dermaseptin precursor was obtained from the Tarsier Leaf Frog (Phyllomedusa tarsius) skin secretion by employing molecular cloning and Sanger sequencing. Also, the corresponding mature peptide, namely QUB-3243, was identified via bioinformatic approach from this cloned biosynthetic precursor-encoding cDNA sequence.

Subsequently, the chemically-synthesised replicate was subjected to a series of bioassays. It was found that QUB-3243 demonstrate a varying degree of antimicrobial activities toward Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria, but not the fungus C.albicans. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of this peptide against S.aureus and E.coli, were 64 µM and 32 µM, respectively.