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Natural compounds have been a rich source of antimicrobial molecules, where peptides constitute the class of the most bioactive components. Therefore, this study looks into the target-specific binding efficacy of insect-derived antifungal peptides (n = 37) as possible alternatives to traditional antifungal treatments. Using computational methods, namely the HPEPDOCK and HDOCK platforms, molecular docking was performed to evaluate the interactions between selected key fungal targets, lanosterol 14-demethylase, or LDM (PDB ID: 5V5Z), secreted aspartic proteinase-5, or Sap-5 (PDB ID: 2QZX), N-myristoyl transferase, or NMT (PDB ID: 1NMT), and dihydrofolate reductase, or DHFR, of C. albicans. The three-dimensional peptide structure was modelled through the PEP-FOLD 3.5 tool. Further, we predicted the physicochemical properties of these peptides through the ProtParam and PEPTIDE 2.0 tools to assess their drug-likeness and potential for therapeutic applications. In silico results show that Blap-6 from Blaps rhynchopeter and Gomesin from Acanthoscurria gomesiana have the most antifungal potential against all four targeted proteins in Candida sp. Additionally, a molecular dynamics simulation study of LDM-Blap-6 was carried out at 100 nanoseconds. The overall predictions showed that both have strong binding abilities and are good candidates for drug development. In in vitro studies, Gomesin achieved complete biofilm eradication in three out of four Candida species, while Blap-6 showed moderate but consistent reduction across all species. C. tropicalis demonstrated relative resistance to complete eradication by both peptides. The present study provides evidence to support the antifungal activity of certain insect peptides, with potential to be used as alternative drugs or as a template for a new synthetic or modified peptide in pursuit of effective therapies against Candida spp.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms26157449","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,5]],"date-time":"2025-08-05T15:56:16Z","timestamp":1754409376000},"page":"7449","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["In Silico and In Vitro Potential Antifungal Insights of Insect-Derived Peptides in the Management of Candida sp. Infections"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"26","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-9461-3738","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Catarina","family":"Sousa","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Associate Laboratory i4HB\u2014Institute for Health and Bioeconomy, University Institute of Health Sciences\u2014CESPU, 4585-116 Gandra, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6743-3885","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alaka","family":"Sahoo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Skin & VD, Institute of Medical Sciences & SUM Hospital, Siksha \u2018O\u2019 Anusandhan Deemed to be University, Bhubaneswar 751003, Odisha, India"},{"name":"Research and Development Division, Salixiras Research Private Limited, Bhubaneswar 751012, Odisha, India"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5089-8304","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Shasank Sekhar","family":"Swain","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research and Development Division, Salixiras Research Private Limited, Bhubaneswar 751012, Odisha, India"},{"name":"Division of Microbiology & NCDs, ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre, Bhubaneswar 751023, Odisha, India"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8556-1752","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Payal","family":"Gupta","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biotechnology, Graphic Era Deemed to be University, Dehradun 248001, Uttarakhand, India"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5960-3610","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Francisco","family":"Silva","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University Institute of Health Sciences (IUCS-CESPU), 4585-116 Gandra, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0521-2841","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Andreia S.","family":"Azevedo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"UCIBIO\u2014Applied Molecular Biosciences Unit, Translational Research Laboratory, University Institute of Health Sciences (1H-TOXRUN, IUCS-CESPU), 4585-116 Gandra, Portugal"},{"name":"LEPABE\u2014Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"ALiCE\u2014Associate Laboratory in Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8633-2230","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"C\u00e9lia Fortuna","family":"Rodrigues","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Associate Laboratory i4HB\u2014Institute for Health and Bioeconomy, University Institute of Health Sciences\u2014CESPU, 4585-116 Gandra, Portugal"},{"name":"UCIBIO\u2014Applied Molecular Biosciences Unit, Translational Research Laboratory, University Institute of Health Sciences (1H-TOXRUN, IUCS-CESPU), 4585-116 Gandra, Portugal"},{"name":"LEPABE\u2014Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"ALiCE\u2014Associate Laboratory in Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"89","DOI":"10.1080\/21505594.2021.2019950","article-title":"Pathogenesis and Virulence of Candida Albicans","volume":"13","author":"Lopes","year":"2022","journal-title":"Virulence"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"fov111","DOI":"10.1093\/femsyr\/fov111","article-title":"Biofilm formation in Candida glabrata: What have we learnt from functional genomics approaches?","volume":"16","author":"Janbon","year":"2016","journal-title":"FEMS Yeast Res."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Cavalheiro, M., and Teixeira, M.C. 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