Research on Peptide Toxins with Antimicrobial Activities

Microbes may quickly acquire resistance to the antibiotics used, since antibiotic agents are now extensively applied in treatment of infectious diseases in clinic. Novel antimicrobial agents are therefore urgently needed to overcome the resistance issue. Up to date, great efforts have been made in identifying the new antimicrobial agents from natural resources as alternative approach. Peptide toxins existing in animal venoms are demonstrated in recent studies to be of particular importance in prey capture and defense. Due to the diverse structures and bioactivity of peptide toxins, certain peptide toxins have exhibited broad antimicrobial activity, which may have potential to be developed either as new antimicrobial agents or as template for drug design. In this paper, peptide toxins with antimicrobial potential, as well as their biochemical derivatives from various animals, for instance scorpions, snakes, spiders, ants and others were carefully reviewed and discussed.