title: ANTIMIC: a database of antimicrobial sequences.
abstract: Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are important components of the innate immune system of many species. These peptides are found in eukaryotes, including mammals, amphibians, insects and plants, as well as in prokaryotes. Other than having pathogen-lytic properties, these peptides have other activities like antitumor activity, mitogen activity, or they may act as signaling molecules. Their short length, fast and efficient action against microbes and low toxicity to mammals have made them potential candidates as peptide drugs. In many cases they are effective against pathogens that are resistant to conventional antibiotics. They can serve as natural templates for the design of novel antimicrobial drugs. Although there are vast amounts of data on natural AMPs, they are not available through one central resource. We have developed a comprehensive database (ANTIMIC, http://research.i2r. a-star.edu.sg/Templar/DB/ANTIMIC/) of known and putative AMPs, which contains approximately 1700 of these peptides. The database is integrated with tools to facilitate efficient extraction of data and their analysis at molecular level, as well as search for new AMPs. These tools include BLAST, PDB structure viewer and the Antimic profile module.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Infocomm Research, 21 Heng Mui Keng Terrace, Singapore 119613.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brahmachary
authors.forename: S P T
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Krishnan
authors.forename: J L Y
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Koh
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Seah
authors.forename: T W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Brusic
authors.forename: V B
authors.initials: VB
authors.lastname: Bajic
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D019295:Computational Biology; D030541:Databases, Genetic; D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval; D020407:Internet; D012984:Software
chemical_list: D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides