Recent Discoveries of Antifungal Activity in Plant Antimicrobial Peptides

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are positive-charged small molecules of less than 50 amino acids, with antibacterial and antifungal properties. The main mechanism of action against pathogens is the cell membrane disruption. Particularly in plants, most of the AMPs are cysteine-rich peptides (CRPs), which allow the formation of numerous disulfide bridges. Disulfide bridges give the AMPs high chemical, thermal, and proteolytic stability. AMPS of plants are classified into seven families. Although there are similarities between them, such as their antimicrobial properties, antifungal activity, and common amino acid sequences, each family has distinctive properties. Considering that these peptides have been involved in plant defense due to their efficiency and stability, makes them advantageous compared to the current drugs that are more susceptible to generating resistance.

The present research focus in the last 5 years making an update on antifungal activity with the three most important families of plant AMPs.

This review collected the last 5 years of antifungal studies of three plant AMP families, defensins, thionins and hevein-like peptides, with a special focus on defensins, the most studied family in antifungal activity.

These AMPs could be useful for future applications in the agricultural, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology industries, which will improve life quality.