Antimicrobial peptides from the black tiger shrimp Penaeus monodon – a review

Black tiger shrimp Penaeus monodon is one of the major shrimp species being cultured in Asian countries. Disease outbreaks have resulted in a decline of P. monodon cultivation and severe losses in the shrimp production. To combat harmful microorganisms, shrimp produce diverse classes of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) as part of their immune defense. In P. monodon, several cDNA sequences of AMPs were identified by means of expressed sequence tag (EST) approach. These DNA sequences encode different putative AMPs, such as crustins, penaeidins, anti-lipopolysaccharide factors (ALFs) and lysozymes. In this review, we present the recent information on sequence diversity, expression and antimicrobial properties of P. monodon AMPs. The information indicates the importance of these AMPs as the effective host defense molecules against the invasion of pathogenic