Wasp venom is a complex mixture of biologically active components, including high molecular weight proteins, small peptides, bioactive amines, and amino acids. Peptides comprise up to 70% of dried venom. In social wasp venoms, three of the major peptide types are mastoparans, which cause mast cell degranulation, chemotactic peptides, which promote chemotaxis of polymorphonucleated leukocytes, and kinin‐related peptides, which are known to produce pain and increase vascular permeability. Among these, the bioactive tridecapeptide mastoparan is the most common and may even have antimicrobial activity. Herein we summarize the results of studies on vespid mastoparans, focusing on hornets (Vespa spp.) identified following a systematic literature search for mastoparans of hornets in the genus Vespa, the most active mastoparan research taxon. The common features of hornet mastoparans are C‐terminal amidation, amphipathic helical structure, and multiple functions such as mast cell degranulation and hemolysis, as well as membrane permeabilization. Most interestingly, all tested hornet mastoparans have strong antimicrobial activities, suggesting that they can provide useful insights into and opportunities for development of novel antibacterial peptides.

中文翻译：

---

黄蜂和大黄蜂 (Vespidae) mastoparans 的结构和抗菌潜力：综述

黄蜂毒液是生物活性成分的复杂混合物，包括高分子量蛋白质、小肽、生物活性胺和氨基酸。肽占干毒液的 70%。在社会黄蜂毒液中，三种主要的肽类型是导致肥大细胞脱颗粒的乳清蛋白、促进多形核白细胞趋化性的趋化肽和已知会产生疼痛和增加血管通透性的激肽相关肽。其中，生物活性的十三肽mastoparan是最常见的，甚至可能具有抗菌活性。在此，我们总结了对胡蜂类 mastoparans 的研究结果，重点是大黄蜂（Vespa spp.），这是在对胡蜂属中最活跃的 mastoparan 研究分类群中的 mastoparans 进行系统文献搜索后确定的。大黄蜂的共同特征是 C 端酰胺化、两亲螺旋结构和多种功能，如肥大细胞脱颗粒和溶血，以及膜透化。最有趣的是，所有经过测试的大黄蜂都具有很强的抗菌活性，这表明它们可以为开发新型抗菌肽提供有用的见解和机会。