Produção de melitina in vitro por expressão heteróloga em Escherichia coli

Abstract

Apitoxin is the poison found in bees of the genus Apis, and is fundamentally constituted by peptides and some lipids and glucose molecules. Melittin is a simple peptide composed of 26 amino acids that make up most of the venom by dry weight. This peptide is derived from promelittin, which in turn is derived from pre-promelittin. The pre-promelittin amino acids sequence provides the signal for protein secretion, whereas promelittin stabilizes the peptide until it is released from the venom gland. Obtaining melittin manually is difficult and produces very little product, therefore its production through a differentiated method, which facilitates and enhances its final production, is very necessary, which was studied in this research. In this work primers for amplification were designed and the optimal conditions for this reaction were determined. The possible vectors for the expression were also studied in silico. PCR results and vector implications are discussed in the text.