Bioprospecting of peptides in bycatch of shrimp trawling using a substrate capture assay

Abstract

The biodiversity found in the marine environment and the chemical diversity associated is an unlimited source of new active substances with potential for drug development. The shrimp fishing is one of the most impactful to the marine ecosystem: the use of trawling causes the destruction of the entire region where he is employed, capturing up to 21 kg of bycatch / kg of shrimp. Recently peptides isolated from a variety of marine organisms have shown biological activity, altering cellular signaling pathways related to diseases like cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The advancement and the use of mass spectrometry techniques for characterization of proteins and peptides in mammals have revealed the presence of a peptide group from the intracellular metabolism that plays some role in the cellular communication. Then, the aim of this project is to identify bioactive peptides in different marine organisms from bycatch using a substrate capture assay with catalytically inactive enzymes, isotopic labeling and mass spectrometry. The identification of these peptides will allow the characterization of the molecular targets in cell communication pathways. (AU)