Identification and recombinant production of antimicrobial peptides from the Black Soldier Fly, Hermetia illucens (L.)
type: CreativeWork
description: The need for new antimicrobial therapies to treat drug-resistant bacterial infections is one of the leading risks to global public health. Previous discovery strategies concentrated on the isolation of secondary metabolite antibiotics that are secreted by soil-dwelling bacteria. However, the exhaustion of such discovery platforms has led to an interest in other avenues of research. In recent years, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have emerged as promising alternatives to conventional antibiotics that possess potent antimicrobial abilities and are less prone to resistance. AMPs are important components of innate immune systems found ubiquitously in nature. The Black Soldier Fly, Hermetia illucens (L.), has been recognised as a rich source of AMPs and several AMPs have been characterised for their antibacterial activities. This thesis aims to identify and produce AMPs from H. illucens and build on our collective repertoire of antimicrobial strategies against drug-resistant bacterial infections. To achieve this, an approach was taken that amalgamated experimental and theoretical studies and led to the identification of several novel putative AMPs from H. illucens. AMPs are typically small proteins under 10kDa. Low molecular weight proteins were identified by mass spectrometry from the haemolymph of H. illucens larvae. At the same time, AMP sequences were computationally predicted from the coding sequences of the H. illucens genome. Translated protein sequences from 3 of the coding sequences predicted to be AMPs were contained in the haemolymph mass spectrometry data set. These 3 putative AMPs alongside 6 other H. illucens AMPs from published studies encompassed several families of AMPs including attacins, cecropins, and defensins. The 9 candidate putative AMPs were carried forward to in silico and in vitro phenotypic studies. During this project, there have been major advancements in computational protein structure predictions that allowed us to theoretically characteris…
abstract: The need for new antimicrobial therapies to treat drug-resistant bacterial infections is one of the leading risks to global public health. Previous discovery strategies concentrated on the isolation of secondary metabolite antibiotics that are secreted by soil-dwelling bacteria. However, the exhaustion of such discovery platforms has led to an interest in other avenues of research. In recent years, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have emerged as promising alternatives to conventional antibiotics that possess potent antimicrobial abilities and are less prone to resistance. AMPs are important components of innate immune systems found ubiquitously in nature. The Black Soldier Fly, Hermetia illucens (L.), has been recognised as a rich source of AMPs and several AMPs have been characterised for their antibacterial activities. This thesis aims to identify and produce AMPs from H. illucens and build on our collective repertoire of antimicrobial strategies against drug-resistant bacterial infections. To achieve this, an approach was taken that amalgamated experimental and theoretical studies and led to the identification of several novel putative AMPs from H. illucens. AMPs are typically small proteins under 10kDa. Low molecular weight proteins were identified by mass spectrometry from the haemolymph of H. illucens larvae. At the same time, AMP sequences were computationally predicted from the coding sequences of the H. illucens genome. Translated protein sequences from 3 of the coding sequences predicted to be AMPs were contained in the haemolymph mass spectrometry data set. These 3 putative AMPs alongside 6 other H. illucens AMPs from published studies encompassed several families of AMPs including attacins, cecropins, and defensins. The 9 candidate putative AMPs were carried forward to in silico and in vitro phenotypic studies. During this project, there have been major advancements in computational protein structure predictions that allowed us to theoretically characteris…
author: Fahmy, Leila
language: eng
keywords: antibiotic, antimicrobial peptide, antimicrobial resistance, Pseudomonas aeruginosa
license: https://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/
date published: 2022-09-29
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:24:03Z
provider: Cambridge University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Cambridge

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.17863/CAM.94913