title: Antimicrobial Peptides: An Introduction.
abstract: The "golden era" of antibiotic discovery has long passed, but the need for new antibiotics has never been greater due to the emerging threat of antibiotic resistance. This urgency to develop new antibiotics has motivated researchers to find new methods to combat pathogenic microorganisms resulting in a surge of research focused around antimicrobial peptides (AMPs; also termed host defense peptides) and their potential as therapeutics. During the past few decades, more than 2000 AMPs have been identified from a diverse range of organisms (animals, fungi, plants, and bacteria). While these AMPs share a number of common features and a limited number of structural motifs; their sequences, activities, and targets differ considerably. In addition to their antimicrobial effects, AMPs can also exhibit immunomodulatory, anti-biofilm, and anticancer activities. These diverse functions have spurred tremendous interest in research aimed at understanding the activity of AMPs, and various protocols have been described to assess different aspects of AMP function including screening and evaluating the activities of natural and synthetic AMPs, measuring interactions with membranes, optimizing peptide function, and scaling up peptide production. Here, we provide a general overview of AMPs and introduce some of the methodologies that have been used to advance AMP research.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Center for Microbial Diseases and Immunity Research, University of British Columbia, 2259 Lower Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6T 1Z4.
authors.forename: Evan F
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Haney
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Center for Microbial Diseases and Immunity Research, University of British Columbia, 2259 Lower Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6T 1Z4.
authors.forename: Sarah C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Mansour
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Center for Microbial Diseases and Immunity Research, University of British Columbia, 2259 Lower Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6T 1Z4. bob@hancocklab.com.
authors.forename: Robert E W
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Hancock
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D018441:Biofilms / Q000187:drug effects; D015195:Drug Design; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007155:Immunologic Factors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D056747:Immunomodulation / Q000187:drug effects; D008958:Models, Molecular; D011487:Protein Conformation; D000072417:Protein Domains; D015202:Protein Engineering; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship
chemical_list: D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D007155:Immunologic Factors
keywords: Antibiofilm activity; Antimicrobial peptides; Host defense peptides; Immunomodulatory function