bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.15.152363; this version posted June 15, 2020. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license. 1 Identification of new insect Host Defense Peptides (HDP) from Dung Beetles 2 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) transcriptomes 3 4 New insect Host Defense Peptides from Dung Beetles 5 6 Author’s names and affiliations: 7 Germán Alberto Téllez Ramirez1* 8 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3057-9290 9 Center of Biomedical Research. Group of Molecular Immunology. Universidad del 10 Quindío. Cra. 15 calle 12 norte. Armenia, Quindío – Colombia. 11 Author Contributions: Conceptualization, Data Curation, Formal Analysis, 12 Investigation, Methodology, Project Administration, Visualization, Writing – Original 13 Draft Preparation, Writing – Review & Editing. 14 Juan Felipe Osorio-Méndez1 15 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7326-8871 16 Center of Biomedical Research. Group of Molecular Immunology. Universidad del 17 Quindío. Cra. 15 calle 12 norte. Armenia, Quindío – Colombia. 18 Author Contributions: Visualization, Writing – Original Draft Preparation, Writing – 19 Review & Editing 20 Diana Carolina Henao Arias1, 21 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8136-1059 22 Center of Biomedical Research. Group of Molecular Immunology. Universidad del 23 Quindío. Cra. 15 calle 12 norte. Armenia, Quindío – Colombia. 24 Author Contributions: Investigation, Methodology, Visualization, Writing – Original 25 Draft Preparation. bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.15.152363; this version posted June 15, 2020. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license. 26 Lily Johanna Toro S1, 27 http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7906-1997 28 Center of Biomedical Research. Group of Molecular Immunology. Universidad del 29 Quindío. Cra. 15 calle 12 norte. Armenia, Quindío – Colombia. 30 Author Contributions: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Project 31 Administration, Writing – Original Draft Preparation, Writing – Review & Editing. 32 Juliana Franco Castrillón1 33 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4942-5096 34 Center of Biomedical Research. Group of Molecular Immunology. Universidad del 35 Quindío. Cra. 15 calle 12 norte. Armenia, Quindío – Colombia. 36 Author Contributions: Writing – Original Draft Preparation. 37 Maribel Rojas-Montoya1, 38 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0966-7165 39 Center of Biomedical Research. Group of Molecular Immunology. Universidad del 40 Quindío. Cra. 15 calle 12 norte. Armenia, Quindío – Colombia. 41 Author Contributions: Visualization, Writing – Original Draft Preparation. 42 Jhon Carlos Castaño Osorio1 43 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7639-3053 44 Center of Biomedical Research. Group of Molecular Immunology. Universidad del 45 Quindío. Cra. 15 calle 12 norte. Armenia, Quindío – Colombia. 46 Author Contributions: Conceptualization, Project Administration, Writing – Original 47 Draft Preparation, Writing – Review & Editing. 48 E-mail address: gymol@uniquindio.edu.co 49 *corresponding author: Email address: gatellez@uniquindio.edu.co 50 1 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.15.152363; this version posted June 15, 2020. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license. 51 Abstract 52 Introduction: The Coleoptera Scarabaeidae family is one of the most diverse groups 53 of insects on the planet, living in complex microbiological environments. Their immune 54 systems have evolved with the generation of host defense peptides but only a small 55 number of these peptides have been characterized. 56 Methods: In this work two sources of information were retrieved: 1) De novo 57 transcriptomic data from two species of neotropical Scarabidae (Dichotomius satanas 58 and Ontophagus curvicornis); 2) Sequence data deposited in available databases. A 59 BLAST-based search against the transcriptomes with a subset of sequences 60 representative of the Host Defense Peptides (HDP). The HDP were described with the 61 cecropin, defensin, attacin, and coleoptericin families; their physical/chemical and 62 structural properties were described. 63 Results: This work reports 155 novel sequences of HDP identified in 9 transcriptomes 64 from seven species from the Coleoptera order: D. satanas (n= 76; 49.03%), O. 65 curvicornis (n= 23; 14.83%), T. dichotomus (n= 18; 11.61%), O. nigriventris (n= 10; 66 6.45%), Heterochelus sp (n= 6; 3.87%), O. conspicillatum (n= 18; 11.61%) and P. 67 japonica (n= 4; 2.58%). These sequences were identified based on similarity to known 68 HDP insect families. New members of defensins (n= 58; 37.42%), cecropins (n= 18; 69 11.61%), attancins (n= 41; 26.45%) and coleoptericins (n= 38; 24.52%), with their 70 physicochemical, structural characteristics, and sequence relationship to other insect 71 HDP were analyzed. 72 Conclusions: 73 155 new HDP could be identified, based on similarity to known HDP insect families on 74 nine transcriptome sequences of seven beetle species. 2 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.15.152363; this version posted June 15, 2020. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license. 75 Keywords: 76 Antimicrobial cationic peptides, insect proteins, computational biology, RNA-Seq, 77 cecropins, defensins, attacin, coleoptericin. 78 79 Highlights 80 81 ● This work identified 155 novel sequences of HDP found in nine transcriptomes 82 from seven Coleoptera species. 83 ● De novo transcriptomic data from two species of neotropical Scarabaeidae 84 (Dichotomius satanas and Ontophagus curvicornis). 85 ● In silico prediction of physicochemical properties, structural features, sequence 86 similarity, and antimicrobial activity of Scarabaeidae HDP. 87 88 Introduction 89 One of the main effectors of the insect immune response is the production of Host 90 Defense Peptides (HDP) or antimicrobial peptides. Families of these peptides have 91 been identified in all taxonomic groups, thus representing an ancient and efficient 92 defense mechanism against pathogens. In insects, most HDP are synthesized as 93 precursors or pro-proteins in the fat body and hemocytes [1–3]. Host Defense Peptides 94 are cationic, amphipathic polypeptides, produced in all known genera of living 95 organisms, and represent an ancient innate defense mechanism [4–6]. Once activated 96 by post-translational proteolysis [1,7–9], they act as effector molecules against 97 pathogens in a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive and 98 Gram-negative bacteria, protozoa, fungi, and viruses. They also have low propensity 3 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.15.152363; this version posted June 15, 2020. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license. 99 for developing resistance. This efficiency is thought to be one of the biological 100 attributes that would explain the evolutionary success of insects [10,11]. Therefore, 101 they have received attention for the development of new antimicrobials with clinical 102 applications in recent years [12,13]. 103 104 Insect HDP have been classified according to their sequence, physicochemical and 105 structural properties, in cecropin, defensin, attacin, and coleoptericin families. Other 106 families, such as moricin and gloverin have been identified only in Lepidoptera 107 [2,14,15]. Cecropins are a family of 3–4 kDa, cationic, alpha helix, amphipathic 108 peptides devoid of cysteine residues [16,17]. Mature active cecropins are generated 109 after removal of the signal peptide and form two α-helices connected by a hinge. A 110 long hydrophobic C-terminal and a strongly basic N-terminal domain is presumptively 111 required for the biological activity and they are most active against Gram-negative 112 bacteria [18–22]. 113 114 Defensins are the largest family of HDP and are ubiquitous in almost all forms of life, 115 including animals, fungi, and plants [23]. They have broad-spectrum antimicrobial 116 activity against bacteria, fungi, and viruses [24]. The majority of mature defensins are 117 cationic peptides composed of 24 to 42 amino acid residues, characterized by six 118 cysteines [25]. The structure of insect defensins is composed of an α-helix, followed 119 by an antiparallel β-sheet linked by three intramolecular disulfide bonds, forming a 120 “Cysteine-Stabilized alpha Beta (CSαβ)” or “loop-helix-beta-sheet” structure [26,27]. 121 122 Attacins are larger peptides with basic (~ 8.3) or acidic (~ 5.7) isoelectric points, and 123 molecular weights of 20-23 kDa; we can find two isoforms, basic and acids attacins 4 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.15.152363; this version posted June 15, 2020. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review)