Análises ecológicas e moleculares comparativas do gênero Potamotrygon e prospecção de moléculas bioactivas do ferrão

Abstract

The genus Potamotrygon, belonging to the family Potamotrygonidae (GARMAN, 1877), a family with freshwater stingrays, of the order Myliobatiformes (stingrays). This genus has the largest number of species that present great specific and individual variation. Within the species of the genus, the species Potamotrygon magdalenae stands out, being an almost unexplored species, endemic of the basin of the Magdalena River. The study object of the present study was to compare two species of Brazilian stingrays (P. amandae and P. falkneri), with a transcriptome already available, with the species P. magdalenae. Initially, the individuals were collected and the physical-chemical properties of the water from the collection sites were analyzed. Bioinformatics analyzes, including a learning machine, were carried out as a strategy to identify genes responsible for molecules of biotechnological interest (antimicrobial peptides), produced by these stingrays. In addition, with the crude extracts from the sting epithelium collected from the stingrays, an in vitro activity test was performed to determine their antimicrobial potential against microorganisms that cause hospital infections. With the physicochemical analysis of the water it was possible to establish a relationship between the flood pulse and the conductivity in the aquatic system, inferring that they may be determining conditions for the presence of the species; Populations establish according to the ability to tolerate some environmental factors and this is dependent on the information stored in the genes through the evolutionary process (ecosystem potential) and the supply of food and habitat that this environment provides. In addition to the ecosystem analysis, genes were selected for bioprospecting molecules of biotechnological interest, which are produced by these stingrays, predicted by the transcriptomic approach. The study of the stingray transcriptome itself is a challenge due to the lack of information about these organisms published in the literature and the freshwater species of the Potamotrygonidae family, which are unexplored and the particularities of each species, reflected in unique transcripts of the Colombian species. These results represent an excellent opportunity to evaluate not only the genetic resource; This added knowledge of gender and functions, but also the antimicrobial potential of these poisons from transcriptome analysis, aimed at using bioinformatic tools. In addition, a first bioprospecting step was performed by assay, that showed significant inhibition percentages (up to 100%) with significant minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values for Candida albicans (0.08706 µg.mL-1 ), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (0.1807 µg.mL-1 ), Klebsiella pneumoniae (0.001 µg.mL-1 ); as the first step in prospecting for this potential of stingrays.