Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are a class of small peptides that widely exist in nature and they are an important part of the innate immune system of different organisms. AMPs have a wide range of inhibitory effects against bacteria, fungi, parasites and viruses. The emergence of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms and the increasing of concerns about the use of antibiotics resulted in the development of AMPs, which have a good application prospect in medicine, food, animal husbandry, agriculture and aquaculture. This review introduces the progress of research on AMPs comprehensively and systematically, including their classification, mechanism of action, design methods, environmental factors affecting their activity, application status, prospects in various fields and problems to be solved. The research progress on antivirus peptides, especially anti-coronavirus (COVID-19) peptides, has been introduced given the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide in 2020.

/pdf/antimicrobial-peptides-classification-design-application-and-583uqkcpz5.pdf

Antimicrobial Peptides: Classification, Design, Application and Research Progress in Multiple Fields

Data Repository of Antimicrobial Peptides (DRAMP, http://dramp.cpu-bioinfor.org/ ) is an open-access comprehensive database containing general, patent and clinical antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). Currently DRAMP has been updated to version 2.0, it contains a total of 19,899 entries (newly added 2,550 entries), including 5,084 general entries, 14,739 patent entries, and 76 clinical entries. The update covers new entries, structures, annotations, classifications and downloads. Compared with APD and CAMP, DRAMP contains 14,040 (70.56% in DRAMP) non-overlapping sequences. In order to facilitate users to trace original references, PubMed_ID of references have been contained in activity information. The data of DRAMP can be downloaded by dataset and activity, and the website source code is also available on dedicatedly designed download webpage. Although thousands of AMPs have been reported, only a few parts have entered clinical stage. In the paper, we described several AMPs in clinical trials, including their properties, indications and clinicaltrials.gov identifiers. Finally, we provide the applications of DRAMP in the development of AMPs.

/pdf/dramp-2-0-an-updated-data-repository-of-antimicrobial-1v9ipm0xkd.pdf

DRAMP 2.0, an updated data repository of antimicrobial peptides

The management of bacterial infections is becoming a major clinical challenge due to the rapid evolution of antibiotic resistant bacteria. As an excellent candidate to overcome antibiotic resistance, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) that are produced from the synthetic and natural sources demonstrate a broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity with the high specificity and low toxicity. These peptides possess distinctive structures and functions by employing sophisticated mechanisms of action. This comprehensive review provides a broad overview of AMPs from the origin, structural characteristics, mechanisms of action, biological activities to clinical applications. We finally discuss the strategies to optimize and develop AMP-based treatment as the potential antimicrobial and anticancer therapeutics.

/pdf/antimicrobial-peptides-mechanism-of-action-activity-and-eb27vql0uq.pdf

Antimicrobial peptides: mechanism of action, activity and clinical potential.

Design, optimization, and nanotechnology of antimicrobial peptides: From exploration to applications

Swine-origin virus infection spreading widely could cause significant economic loss to porcine industry. Novel antiviral agents need to be developed to control this situation. In this study, we evaluated the activities of five broad-spectrum antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) against several important swine-origin pathogenic viruses by TCID50 assay. Plaque reduction assay and cell apoptosis assay were also used to test the activity of the peptides. Protection effect of piscidin against pseudorabies virus (PRV) was also examined in mouse model. Piscidin (piscidin 1), caerin (caerin 1.1) and maculatin (maculatin 1.1) could inhibit PRV by direct interaction with the virus particles in a dose-dependent manner and they could also protect the cells from PRV-induced apoptosis. Among the peptides tested, piscidin showed the strongest activity against PRV. Moreover, in vivo assay showed that piscidin can reduce the mortality of mice infected with PRV. In vitro and in vivo experiments indicate that piscidin has antiviral activity against PRV.

/pdf/antiviral-activity-of-piscidin-1-against-pseudorabies-virus-9zb9erzc6h.pdf

Antiviral activity of Piscidin 1 against pseudorabies virus both in vitro and in vivo

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.

Yinfeng Lyu

Papers

Antimicrobial peptides: Promising alternatives in the post feeding antibiotic era.