Antifungal plant defensins: increased insight in their mode of action as a basis for their use to combat fungal infections.
Plant defensins are small, cationic peptides with a highly conserved 3D structure. They have been studied extensively in the past decades. Various biological activities have been attributed to plant defensins, such as anti-insect and antimicrobial activities, but they are also known to affect ion channels and display antitumor activity. This review focuses on the structure, biological activity and antifungal mode of action of some well-characterized plant defensins, with particular attention to their fungal membrane target(s), their induced cell death mechanisms as well as their antibiofilm activity. As plant defensins are, in general, not toxic to human cells, show in vivo efficacy and have low frequencies of resistance occurrence, they are of particular interest in the fight against fungal infections.
Centre of Microbial & Plant Genetics, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 20, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
Tanne L
TL
Cools
Centre of Microbial & Plant Genetics, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 20, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
Caroline
C
Struyfs
Centre of Microbial & Plant Genetics, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 20, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.|Department of Plant Systems Biology, VIB, Technologiepark 927, 9052 Ghent, Belgium.
Bruno Pa
BP
Cammue
Centre of Microbial & Plant Genetics, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 20, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
Karin
K
Thevissen
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D023082:Defensins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009181:Mycoses / Q000517:prevention & control*; D010944:Plants / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000276:immunology*; D011487:Protein Conformation; D016415:Sequence Alignment
D000935:Antifungal Agents; D023082:Defensins
antifungal mode of action; plant defensins; therapeutic potential