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Antimicrobial peptides: Promising alternatives in the post feeding antibiotic era
Author(s) -
Wang Jiajun,
Dou Xiujing,
Song Jing,
Lyu Yinfeng,
Zhu Xin,
Xu Lin,
Li Weizhong,
Shan Anshan
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
medicinal research reviews
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.868
H-Index - 130
eISSN - 1098-1128
pISSN - 0198-6325
DOI - 10.1002/med.21542
Subject(s) - antimicrobial , antimicrobial peptides , biology , innate immune system , antibiotics , immune system , bacteria , antibiotic resistance , microbiology and biotechnology , computational biology , immunology , genetics
Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), critical components of the innate immune system, are widely distributed throughout the animal and plant kingdoms. They can protect against a broad array of infection‐causing agents, such as bacteria, fungi, parasites, viruses, and tumor cells, and also exhibit immunomodulatory activity. AMPs exert antimicrobial activities primarily through mechanisms involving membrane disruption, so they have a lower likelihood of inducing drug resistance. Extensive studies on the structure‐activity relationship have revealed that net charge, hydrophobicity, and amphipathicity are the most important physicochemical and structural determinants endowing AMPs with antimicrobial potency and cell selectivity. This review summarizes the recent advances in AMPs development with respect to characteristics, structure‐activity relationships, functions, antimicrobial mechanisms, expression regulation, and applications in food, medicine, and animals.