Antimicrobial action of Phylocaullis boraceiensis mucus

Antimicrobial peptides obtained from invertebrates are good candidates for natural antibiotics due to their broad spectrum of action and low susceptibility to inducing antimicrobial resistance. In the absence of a specific immune system, invertebrates have an efficient innate immune system, composed, among others, of several antimicrobial peptides to defend themselves against pathogenic microorganisms. In this work, we identified and characterized 12 substances in the mucus of P. boraceiensis slugs with potent antimicrobial effects against bacteria and/or yeasts (P. aeruginosa, E. coli, M. luteus C. albicans). These substances were isolated by chromatography and mass spectrometry. Two substances obtained (based with on the largest quantity of material) were analyzed in a database, relating them to already known proteins and peptides and their antimicrobial activities. Later, new analyses will be carried out to characterize the other substances discovered in this study.