Antimicrobial Peptides as a Promising Alternative for Plant Disease Protection

摘要

Plants produce antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) to defend themselves against pathogens. The repertoire of AMPs synthesized by plants is extremely large, with hundreds of different AMPs in some plant species. In spite of their molecular diversity most plant AMPs share common features: they are basic, amphypatic and cysteine-rich peptides with a stabilized structure by disulfide bonds. Plant AMPs antimicrobial activity is not only against plant pathogens and predatory insects, but also against human viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa parasites and neoplastic cells. Thus, plant AMPs are considered as promising antibiotic compounds with important biotechnological applications. This review describes the different plant AMP classes and their natural functions in plant defense. It also discusses the biotechnological applicaticons of AMPs, either natural or synthetic, in plant disease protection. Finally, the use of plants as biofactories is presented as an alternative for the production of AMPs.