Antimicrobial/cytolytic peptides from the venom of the North African scorpion, Androctonus amoreuxi: Biochemical and functional characterization of natural peptides and a single site-substituted analog

► The manuscript describes two novel antimicrobial/cytolytic peptides from the venom of a North African scorpion, Androctonus amoreuxi. ► The cDNAs encoding each peptide were successfully cloned from a cDNA library made from the same venom sample. ► A single site-substituted analog of the first peptide was found to be a more potent antimicrobial than the natural peptides and to have negligible hemolytic activity at effective concentrations. ► In addition, the analog was active against several tumor cell lines and endothelial cells - an activity not possessed by tye natural peptides at the highest concentrations tested.