title: Antimicrobial peptides from marine invertebrates: challenges and perspectives in marine antimicrobial peptide discovery.
abstract: The emergence of pathogenic bacteria resistance to conventional antibiotics calls for an increased focus on the purification and characterization of antimicrobials with new mechanisms of actions. Antimicrobial peptides are promising candidates, because their initial interaction with microbes is through binding to lipids. The interference with such a fundamental cell structure is assumed to hamper resistance development. In the present review we discuss antimicrobial peptides isolated from marine invertebrates, emphasizing the isolation and activity of these natural antibiotics. The marine environment is relatively poorly explored in terms of potential pharmaceuticals, and it contains a tremendous species diversity which evolved in close proximity to microorganisms. As invertebrates rely purely on innate immunity, including antimicrobial peptides, to combat infectious agents, it is believed that immune effectors from these animals are efficient and rapid inhibitors of microbial growth.
authors.affiliation: Norwegian College of Fishery Science, Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics, University of Tromsø, N-9037 Tromsø, Norway.
authors.forename: Sigmund V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Sperstad
authors.forename: Tor
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Haug
authors.forename: Hans-Matti
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Blencke
authors.forename: Olaf B
authors.initials: OB
authors.lastname: Styrvold
authors.forename: Chun
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Klara
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Stensvåg
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D059001:Aquatic Organisms / Q000737:chemistry*; D001709:Biotechnology; D007448:Invertebrates / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides