PcLys-i3, an invertebrate lysozyme, is involved in the antibacterial immunity of the red swamp crayfish, Procambarus clarkii.

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) play important roles in innate immunity against pathogens and lysozymes are a particularly type of AMP. Lysozymes are hydrolytic enzymes that are characterized by their ability to cleave the beta-(1,4)-glycosidic bond between N-acetylmuramic acid and N-acetylglucosamine in peptidoglycan, which is the major bacterial cell wall polymer. In this work, a lysozyme was identified from Procambarus clarkii and designated PcLys-i3. Quantitative RT-PCR was used to analyze the tissue distribution and expression profiles of PcLys-i3. PcLys-i3 was present in all tested tissues and had high expression levels in gills, stomach and intestine. The expression levels of PcLys-i3 were up-regulated in gills and intestine after challenge with Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Staphylococcus aureus and Aeromonas hydrophila. PcLys-i3 and PcFer proteins can enhance the bacterial elimination in crayfish, whereas the bacterial elimination was weakened when the expression level of PcLys-i3 or PcFer RNAs was suppressed by RNAi. Recombinant PcLys-i3 and PcFer significantly reduced the mortality of crayfish with bacterial infections. Further study found that PcLys-i3 could interact with PcFer in vitro. Finally, the PcLys-i3 and PcFer proteins could bind to bacteria and inhibit bacterial replication. These results suggest that both PcLys-i3 and PcFer play important roles in the antibacterial immunity of red swamp crayfish.

Virtual-screening targeting Human Immunodeficiency Virus type 1 integrase-lens epithelium-derived growth factor/p75 interaction for drug development.

Three integrase (IN) inhibitors have been approved by FDA for clinical treatment of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection. This stimulates more researchers to focus their studies on this target for anti-HIV drug development. Three steps regarding of IN activity have been validated for inhibitor discovery: strand transfer, 3'-terminal processing, and IN-lens epithelium-derived growth factor (LEDGF)/p75 interaction. Among them, IN-LEDGF/p75 interaction is a new target validated in recent years. Emergence of drug-resistant virus strains makes this target appealing to pharmacologists. Compared with the traditional screening methods such as AlphaScreen and cell-based screening developed for IN inhibitor discovery, virtual screening is a powerful technique in modern drug discovery. Here we summarized the recent advances of virtual-screening targeting IN-LEDFG/p75 interaction. The combined application of virtual screening and experiments in drug discovery against IN-LEDFG/p75 interaction sheds light on anti-HIV research and drug discovery.

Anti-HIV drug development through computational methods.

Although highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) is effective in controlling the progression of AIDS, the emergence of drug-resistant strains increases the difficulty of successful treatment of patients with HIV infection. Increasing numbers of patients are facing the dilemma that comes with the running out of drug combinations for HAART. Computational methods play a key role in anti-HIV drug development. A substantial number of studies have been performed in anti-HIV drug development using various computational methods, such as virtual screening, QSAR, molecular docking, and homology modeling, etc. In this review, we summarize recent advances in the application of computational methods to anti-HIV drug development for five key targets as follows: reverse transcriptase, protease, integrase, CCR5, and CXCR4. We hope that this review will stimulate researchers from multiple disciplines to consider computational methods in the anti-HIV drug development process.