StarPep Toolbox: an open-source software to assist chemical space analysis of bioactive peptides and their functions using complex networks

Abstract

Abstract Motivation Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are promising molecules to treat infectious diseases caused by multi-drug resistance pathogens, some types of cancer, and other conditions. Computer-aided strategies are efficient tools for the high-throughput screening of AMPs. Results This report highlights StarPep Toolbox, an open-source and user-friendly software to study the bioactive chemical space of AMPs using complex network-based representations, clustering, and similarity-searching models. The novelty of this research lies in the combination of network science and similarity-searching techniques, distinguishing it from conventional methods based on machine learning and other computational approaches. The network-based representation of the AMP chemical space presents promising opportunities for peptide drug repurposing, development, and optimization. This approach could serve as a baseline for the discovery of a new generation of therapeutics peptides. Availability and implementation All underlying code and installation files are accessible through GitHub (https://github.com/Grupo-Medicina-Molecular-y-Traslacional/StarPep) under the Apache 2.0 license.