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Defensins: Antimicrobial peptides for therapeutic development
Author(s) -
Verma Chandra,
Seebah Shalin,
Low Soo Mei,
Zhou Lei,
Liu Shou Ping,
Li Jing,
Beuerman Roger W.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
biotechnology journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.144
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1860-7314
pISSN - 1860-6768
DOI - 10.1002/biot.200700148
Subject(s) - computational biology , antimicrobial , antimicrobial peptides , biology , proteomics , mode of action , lysis , bacteria , microbiology and biotechnology , chemistry , biochemistry , genetics , gene
A novel class of endogenous antimicrobial peptides called defensins has shown great versatility in their activity against a diverse range of microorganisms including bacteria, viruses and fungi. Their mode of action of bacterial cell lysis seems largely nonspecific and so promises to avert the development of resistance. These two features have made them an area of intense research activity and growing commercial interest. A successful multidisciplinary effort to investigate and develop novel defensins analogues has been established in Singapore that involves computer modeling, biochemistry, proteomics, chemical synthesis, molecular biology and clinical sciences.