Antifungal plant defensins: mechanisms of action and production

Plant defensins are small, cysteine-rich peptides that possess biological activity towards a broad range of organisms. Their activity is primarily directed against fungi, but bactericidal and insecticidal actions have also been reported. The mode of action of various antifungal plant defensins has b...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Molecules 2014-08, Vol.19 (8), p.12280-12303
Main Authors: Vriens, Kim, Cammue, Bruno P A, Thevissen, Karin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amino Acid Motifs
Antiinfectives and antibacterials
antimicrobial peptide
Ascomycota - physiology
chemical protein synthesis
Defensins - chemistry
Defensins - physiology
Fungi
heterologous protein expression
Immunity, Innate
Mammals
mechanism of action
Microbial Viability
Microorganisms
Molecular Sequence Data
MsDef1
MtDef4
NaD1
Organisms
plant defensin
Plant Diseases - immunology
Plant Diseases - microbiology
Plant Proteins - chemistry
Plant Proteins - physiology
Plants (organisms)
Plants - immunology
Plants - microbiology
Psd1
Review
RsAFP2
Synthesis
Target recognition
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Summary:Plant defensins are small, cysteine-rich peptides that possess biological activity towards a broad range of organisms. Their activity is primarily directed against fungi, but bactericidal and insecticidal actions have also been reported. The mode of action of various antifungal plant defensins has been studied extensively during the last decades and several of their fungal targets have been identified to date. This review summarizes the mechanism of action of well-characterized antifungal plant defensins, including RsAFP2, MsDef1, MtDef4, NaD1 and Psd1, and points out the variety by which antifungal plant defensins affect microbial cell viability. Furthermore, this review summarizes production routes for plant defensins, either via heterologous expression or chemical synthesis. As plant defensins are generally considered non-toxic for plant and mammalian cells, they are regarded as attractive candidates for further development into novel antimicrobial agents.
ISSN:1420-3049
1420-3049
DOI:10.3390/molecules190812280