Metabolic Engineering of Lactic Acid Bacteria for Antimicrobial Peptides Production

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) exhibit great potential as substitutes for traditional antibiotics in the management of infections resistant to antibiotics due to their natural origin, rapid action, and broad-spectrum activity. Antimicrobial peptides represent an exciting avenue in the field of antimicrobial research and other biotechnological applications. As the threat of antibiotic resistance continues to grow, AMPs offer a potential solution to combating infections and addressing global health challenges. AMPs demonstrate immense potential in various applications, including antimicrobial therapeutics, food preservation, wound healing, and agriculture. There are a number of bioengineering tools available for lactic acid bacteria (LAB) that have been utilized for the heterologous expression and production of AMPs. Because tailored microbes guard against AMP breakdown, it is possible to transport these molecules orally to the gut and use them for a variety of purposes, such as treating drug-resistant enteric pathogens and real-time microbiota remodelling. Additionally, the safety and efficacy of these bioactive peptides were discussed. Here we discuss the scope of metabolic engineering approaches for AMP production in LAB and recent advancements with potential applications. The development of various expression systems in LAB as cell factories, and their application as live vectors in therapeutics is also presented. With the recent exploration of artificial intelligence in synthetic biology, the usage of LAB as a safe and efficient alternative for various biotechnological applications is proposed.