Premium
Cysteine‐rich antimicrobial peptides in invertebrates
Author(s) -
Dimarcq JeanLuc,
Bulet Philippe,
Hetru Charles,
Hoffmann Jules
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
peptide science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.556
H-Index - 125
eISSN - 1097-0282
pISSN - 0006-3525
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-0282(1998)47:6<465::aid-bip5>3.0.co;2-#
Subject(s) - antimicrobial peptides , innate immune system , antimicrobial , cysteine , structural motif , chemistry , defensin , beta defensin , insect , biology , immunity , immune system , biochemistry , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , enzyme , ecology
Antimicrobial peptides are pivotal elements of the innate immune defense against bacterial and fungal infections. Within the impressive list of antimicrobial peptides available at present, more than half have been characterized in arthropods. Cysteine‐rich antimicrobial peptides represent the most diverse and widely distributed family among arthropods and, to a larger extent, among invertebrates. Proeminent groups of cysteine‐rich peptides are peptides with the CSαβ motif and peptides forming an hairpin‐like β‐sheet structure. Although these substances exhibit a large structural diversity and a wide spectrum of activity, they have in common the ability to permeabilize microbial cytoplasmic membranes. Drosophila has proved a remarkable system for the analysis of the regulation of expression of gene encoding antimirobial cysteine‐rich peptides. These studies have unraveled the striking parallels that exist between insect immunity and innate immunity in mammals that point to a common ancestry of essential aspects of innate immunity. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Biopoly 47: 465–477, 1998