Structural determinants of the scorpion venom peptide Uy234 govern bactericidal activity and membrane-disruptive properties
Ana Karen Villa-Merlan, Andrea Mescola, Pedro Alejandro Fong-Coronado, Víctor Rivelino Juárez González, Flora Fernández-Sánchez, Andrea Alessandrini, Daniel Balleza, Verónica Quintero-Hernández · 2026
Read Structural determinants of the scorpion venom peptide Uy234 govern bactericidal activity and membrane-disruptive properties by Ana Karen Villa-Merlan, Andrea Mescola, Pedro Alejandro Fong-Coronado, Víctor Rivelino Juárez González, Flora Fernández-Sánchez, Andrea Alessandrini, Daniel Balleza, Verónica Quintero-Hernández (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/PMC13294106.txt.
Description
Ana Karen Villa-Merlan and colleagues dissect what makes the scorpion venom peptide Uy234 kill bacteria in a 2026 study. Native peptide from Urodacus yaschenkoi was tested against Staphylococcus aureus and a drug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii isolate. Two altered versions removed single features: one swapped proline at position 9, the other lost the capped tail end.
Only the native peptide stopped growth and killed both pathogens. Fluorescent viability tests showed membrane damage in staph cells only with the native form. Microscopy and artificial membrane work showed thinning, spreading, and dose-dependent leaking. Simulations backed the bench results. Both altered features are essential, a useful rule for peptide drug design.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Ana Karen Villa-Merlan, Andrea Mescola, Pedro Alejandro Fong-Coronado, Víctor Rivelino Juárez González, Flora Fernández-Sánchez, Andrea Alessandrini, Daniel Balleza, Verónica Quintero-Hernández |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 48718 |
| LICENSE | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |