Análisis In Silico de toxinas animales con potenciales aplicaciones biotecnológicas

Abstract

Currently available drugs have increased life expectancy; resulting in population aging with a greater number of geriatric patients who increase the culture of prescription and self-medication originating resistant viruses and bacteria. In addition, the development of new diseases, such as the recent Covid-19 pandemic, a product of the irresponsible interaction of humans with the environment, causes millions of deaths, especially in the poorest countries without access to palliative medicines. This reality reflects a paradox that brings the health system closer to the brink of collapse. To face the crisis, alternative uses for known drugs are sought or the development of new, more effective and specific drugs for each medical condition. Omissive research has developed new drugs taking advantage of the great potential of peptides with biotechnological activity isolated from toxic biological secretions produced by certain poisonous animals. In this study, the UNIPROT and RCSB PDB databases were used to group peptides with sequence and structural homology with three different biological activities: anticancer, antiepileptic, and antinociceptive. From nucleotide sequencing, a three-dimensional base structure was obtained, with PyMOL, which confers the biological activity for each group. In addition to a phylogenetic analysis with MEGA that shows the evolutionary roots of the groups. The results are expected to encourage future research that uses the base structures of these peptides isolated from animal toxins as a template and takes advantage of their biological activity for the synthesis of new therapeutic drugs.