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Characterization of Antimicrobial Peptides toward the Development of Novel Antibiotics

Antimicrobial agents have eradicated many infectious diseases and significantly improved our living environment. However, abuse of antimicrobial agents has accelerated the emergence of multidrug-resistant microorganisms, and there is an urgent need for novel antibiotics. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Aoki, Wataru, Ueda, Mitsuyoshi
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3817730/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24276381
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ph6081055
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author Aoki, Wataru
Ueda, Mitsuyoshi
author_facet Aoki, Wataru
Ueda, Mitsuyoshi
author_sort Aoki, Wataru
collection PubMed
description Antimicrobial agents have eradicated many infectious diseases and significantly improved our living environment. However, abuse of antimicrobial agents has accelerated the emergence of multidrug-resistant microorganisms, and there is an urgent need for novel antibiotics. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have attracted attention as a novel class of antimicrobial agents because AMPs efficiently kill a wide range of species, including bacteria, fungi, and viruses, via a novel mechanism of action. In addition, they are effective against pathogens that are resistant to almost all conventional antibiotics. AMPs have promising properties; they directly disrupt the functions of cellular membranes and nucleic acids, and the rate of appearance of AMP-resistant strains is very low. However, as pharmaceuticals, AMPs exhibit unfavorable properties, such as instability, hemolytic activity, high cost of production, salt sensitivity, and a broad spectrum of activity. Therefore, it is vital to improve these properties to develop novel AMP treatments. Here, we have reviewed the basic biochemical properties of AMPs and the recent strategies used to modulate these properties of AMPs to enhance their safety.
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spelling pubmed-38177302013-11-14 Characterization of Antimicrobial Peptides toward the Development of Novel Antibiotics Aoki, Wataru Ueda, Mitsuyoshi Pharmaceuticals (Basel) Review Antimicrobial agents have eradicated many infectious diseases and significantly improved our living environment. However, abuse of antimicrobial agents has accelerated the emergence of multidrug-resistant microorganisms, and there is an urgent need for novel antibiotics. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have attracted attention as a novel class of antimicrobial agents because AMPs efficiently kill a wide range of species, including bacteria, fungi, and viruses, via a novel mechanism of action. In addition, they are effective against pathogens that are resistant to almost all conventional antibiotics. AMPs have promising properties; they directly disrupt the functions of cellular membranes and nucleic acids, and the rate of appearance of AMP-resistant strains is very low. However, as pharmaceuticals, AMPs exhibit unfavorable properties, such as instability, hemolytic activity, high cost of production, salt sensitivity, and a broad spectrum of activity. Therefore, it is vital to improve these properties to develop novel AMP treatments. Here, we have reviewed the basic biochemical properties of AMPs and the recent strategies used to modulate these properties of AMPs to enhance their safety. MDPI 2013-08-21 /pmc/articles/PMC3817730/ /pubmed/24276381 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ph6081055 Text en © 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Aoki, Wataru
Ueda, Mitsuyoshi
Characterization of Antimicrobial Peptides toward the Development of Novel Antibiotics
title Characterization of Antimicrobial Peptides toward the Development of Novel Antibiotics
title_full Characterization of Antimicrobial Peptides toward the Development of Novel Antibiotics
title_fullStr Characterization of Antimicrobial Peptides toward the Development of Novel Antibiotics
title_full_unstemmed Characterization of Antimicrobial Peptides toward the Development of Novel Antibiotics
title_short Characterization of Antimicrobial Peptides toward the Development of Novel Antibiotics
title_sort characterization of antimicrobial peptides toward the development of novel antibiotics
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3817730/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24276381
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ph6081055
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