Cationic peptides: a new source of antibiotics

• Published in: Trends in biotechnology (Regular ed.) Vol. 16; no. 2; pp. 82 - 88
• Main Authors: Hancock, Robert E.W, Lehrer, Robert
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01-02-1998; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Anti-Bacterial Agents - pharmacology; Anti-Infective Agents - pharmacology; Antibiotics; Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides; antimicrobial peptides; Biological and medical sciences; Biotechnology; Blood Proteins - chemistry; Blood Proteins - pharmacology; cationic peptides; Cost-Benefit Analysis; Defensins; disease resistance; DNA-Binding Proteins - chemistry; DNA-Binding Proteins - pharmacology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Health. Pharmaceutical industry; Humans; Industrial applications and implications. Economical aspects; Infection - immunology; Molecular Sequence Data; Peptides, Cyclic - chemistry; Peptides, Cyclic - pharmacology; Production of active biomolecules; Protein Structure, Secondary; Proteins - chemistry; Proteins - pharmacology; Transgenes; transgenic; cationic peptides; transgenic; disease resistance; antibiotics; antimicrobial peptides; Nisin; Peptides; Industrial application; Cationic protein; Transgenic animal; Review; Antimicrobial agent; Antibiotic; Antifungal agent; Structure activity relation; Production; Transgenic plant; Pharmaceutical industry
• ISSN: 0167-7799; 1879-3096
• DOI: 10.1016/S0167-7799(97)01156-6

Antimicrobial cationic peptides are an important component of the innate defenses of all species of life. Different peptides may have antibacterial, antiendotoxic, antibiotic-potentiating or antifungal properties, and so they are being developed for use as a novel class of antimicrobial agents and as the basis for making transgenic disease-resistant plants and animals.