Mellitin is the ideal component of bee venom and consists of 26 amino acids. Because melittin has a simple structure and inhibits virus replication, it can be used for gene therapy of cancer and prevention and treatment of AIDS.

What is bee venom?

Bee venom is a transparent, fragrant venom secreted by the venom glands of worker bees and stored in the venom sac. It is a complex mixture of inhibitory ingredients. The main components contain proteins, polypeptides, enzymes, biogenic amines, and other substances. Among them, the most studied is melittin hemolytic peptide, which is an important raw material for medicine and bioengineering research.

The structure of melittin

Mellitin consists of 26 amino acids with the sequence Gly-Ile-Ala-Val-Leu-Lys-Val-Leu-Thr-Thr-Gly-Leu-Pro-Ala-Leu-Ile-Ser-Trp-Ile-Lys-Arg -Lys-Arg-Gln-Gln-NH2, the whole peptide molecule has 6 positive charges, 4 at the C-terminus, 2 at the N-terminus, melittin has no carboxyl group, and is a strong basic peptide. Mellittin can be synthesized by solid-phase peptide synthesis.

Mellittin water soluble

Mellittin is highly water-soluble and mainly exists in the form of monomers and tetramers in water, without stable dimers. Monomers have no secondary structure present. Tetramers are composed of dimers, which are monomeric structures at low concentrations, low ionic strength, and low temperatures, and tetramers are formed at high concentrations, high ionic strength, and high temperatures.

The application of melittin in medicine

The vector carrying the rhodolysin gene was introduced into a human bladder cell line, and then cloned into athymic mice. The results showed that melittin expression reduced or completely lost the oncogenicity of the clones. Therefore, it is proved that the release of melittin gene into tumor cells is effective for cancer gene therapy.