A large group of low molecular weight natural compounds that exhibit antimicrobial activity has been isolated from animals and plants during the past two decades. Among them, cationic peptides are the most widespread. Interestingly, the variety and diversity of these peptides seem to be much wider than suspected. In fact, novel classes of peptides with varying chemical propertiescontinue to be ...

Tryptophan and arginine-rich cyclic hexapeptides of the type cyclo-RRRWFW combine high antibacterial activity with rapid cell killing kinetics, but show low toxicity in human cell lines. The peptides fulfil the structural requirements for membrane interaction such as high amphipathicity and cationic charge, but membrane permeabilisation, which is the most common mode of action of antimicrobial ...

ANALYSIS OF A SELECTED SET OF ANTIMICROBIAL PEPTIDES The rapid emergence of resistance to classical antibiotics has increased the interest in novel antimicrobial compounds. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) represent an attractive alternative to classical antibiotics and a number of different studies have reported antimicrobial activity data of various AMPs, but there is only limited comparative da...

The antimicrobial activity of the collective molecules comprising human milk reflects an evolutionarily successful paradigm for preventing and limiting microbial infection. Understanding the molecules that participate in this process and how they work can yield insight into potentially new antimicrobial therapies. Upon proteolytic processing, antimicrobial peptides can be derived from milk prot...

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) from amphibian skin are valuable template structures to find new treatments against bacterial infections. This work describes for the first time the structure and membrane interactions of a homodimeric AMP. Homotarsinin, which was found in Phyllomedusa tarsius anurans, consists of two identical cystine-linked polypeptide chains each of 24 amino acid residues. The h...

In addition to acting as a physical barrier against microorganisms, the skin produces antimicrobial peptides and proteins. After wounding, growth factors are produced to stimulate the regeneration of tissue. The growth factor response ceases after regeneration of the tissue, when the physical barrier protecting against microbial infections is re-established. We found that the growth factors imp...

The majority of antibiotics currently used to treat methicillin-resistant Staphylococus aureus (MRSA) infections target bacterial cell wall synthesis or protein synthesis. Only daptomycin has a novel mode of action. Reliance on limited targets for MRSA chemotherapy, has contributed to antimicrobial resistance. Two alternative approaches to the treatment of S. aureus infection, particularly thos...

Antimicrobial peptides are a class of small, usually positively charged amphiphilic peptides that are used by the innate immune system to combat bacterial infection in multicellular eukaryotes. Antimicrobial peptides are known for their broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity and thus can be used as a basis for a development of new antibiotics against multidrug-resistant bacteria. The most challe...

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are host defense peptides that are well conserved throughout the course of evolution. Histones are classical DNA-binding proteins, rich in cationic amino acids, and recently appreciated as precursors for various histone-derived AMPs. The present study deals with identification of the potential antimicrobial peptide sequence of teleostin from the histone H2A of mari...

Defensin is a gene family with antimicrobial peptides and thought to be effector molecules in innate immunity. Defensins are cationic, cystein-rich antimicrobial peptide components of the mammalian innate system1. They are members of a supergene family consisting of αand β‚ subtypes, located in a cluster at chromosome 82. These two Regulation of Human Beta-Defensin 3(hBD-3) in Human Keratinocyt...