In silico bioprospecting of receptors for Oligoventin: an antimicrobial peptide isolated from spider eggs of Phoneutria nigriventer

Background Irresponsible and wholesale use of antimicrobial agents is the principal cause of the emergence of strains of resistant microorganisms to traditional drugs. Oligoventin is a neutral peptide isolated from spider eggs of Phoneutria nigriventer , with antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive, Gram-negative, and yeast organisms. However, the molecular target and pathways of antimicrobial activity are still unknown. Thus, the aim of the present study is to prospect receptors associated with the antimicrobial activity of Oligoventin using in silico tools. Methods The PharmMapper server was used to prospect targets originating from microorganisms. Additionally, the PatchDock server was utilized to perform molecular docking between Oligoventin and the targets. Subsequently, the I-TASSER server was adopted to predict the ligand site. Finally, the docking results and predicted sites were compared with literature sites of each target. Results Twenty-two potential receptors for Oligoventin were identified. Among these, Enoyl-ACP reductase (Id _pdb 1lxc) and Thymidylate synthase ThyX (Id _pdb 1O28) demonstrated superior interaction with the peptide, exhibiting co-localization between docked residues and literature sites. These enzymes play a crucial role in fatty acid and DNA biosynthesis in prokaryotes Conclusion Therefore, in silico results suggest that Oligoventin can impair fatty acid and DNA synthesis, thereby reducing microbial proliferation and causing microorganism death.