Bioinformatic Analysis of Genome-Predicted Bat Cathelicidins

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.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Pérez de Lastra, José Manuel, Asensio-Calavia, Patricia, González-Acosta, Sergio, Baca-González, Victoria, Morales-delaNuez, Antonio
Other Authors:	Agencia Canaria de Investigación, Innovación y Sociedad de la Información
Format:	artículo biblioteca
Language:	English
Published:	Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute 2021-03-23
Subjects:	Cathelicidins, Bat, Bioinformatics, Genome, In silico, SARS-COV-2,
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10261/237520 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100007757 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100012000 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100004837
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