Antimicrobial peptides have captured the attention of researchers in recent years because of their efficiency in fighting against pathogens. These peptides are found in nature and have been isolated from a wide range of organisms. Furthermore, analogs or synthetic derivatives have successfully been developed on the basis of natural peptide patterns. Long use of pesticides and antibiotics has led to development of resistance among pathogens and other pests as well as increase of environmental and health risks. Antimicrobial peptides are under consideration as new substitutes for conventional pesticides and antibiotics. Many plants and animals have been manipulated with antimicrobial peptide-encoding genes and several pesticides and drugs have been produced based on these peptides. Such strategies and products may still have a long way to go before being confirmed by regulatory bodies and others need to surmount technical problems before being accepted as applicable ones. In spite of these facts, several cases of successful use of antimicrobial peptides in agriculture and food industry indicate a promising future for extensive application of these peptides. In this review, we consider the developing field of antimicrobial peptide applications in various agricultural activities.
The antimicrobial peptides represent diverse structures for drug design. They have been looked at as potential sources of new antimicrobial drugs to combat the increasing threat posed by multiple drug resistant microorganisms. Unfortunately, peptides themselves provide inferior drug candidates because of their low oral bioavailability, potential immunogenicity, poor in vivo metabolic stability, high molecular weight and most importantly being exposed by enzymes like proteases. Recent efforts to resolve disadvantageous peptide characteristics, and thus generating practical pharmaceutical therapies, have focused on the creation of non-natural peptide mimetics. Peptidomimetic molecules may have reduced immunogenicity and improved bioavailability relative to peptide analogues. Also the artificial backbone makes most peptidomimetics resistant to degradative enzymes thus increasing the stability of peptidomimetic drugs in the body. In this article, after introducing antifungal peptides, benefits and limitations, and peptidomemetics usage are discussed and applications in drug discovery process and antifungal research will be presented.
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