Antimicrobial Peptides from Natural Sources to Synthetic Optimization

Dear Colleagues,

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are considered the main resource for the development of new therapeutic alternatives against antimicrobial infections. AMPs have been identified in plants and animals with very diverse primary and secondary structures, which give them physicochemical properties that are fundamental for their antimicrobial activity. It has been pointed out that AMPs have some deficiencies that limit their use as drugs, such as proteolytic susceptibility, easy and rapid elimination from the body, difficulty in crossing membranes, undesirable side effects, etc. Therefore, the identification of promising AMPs is the cornerstone in the development of drugs to mitigate the impact of antimicrobial infections, especially those caused by resistant strains. AMPs that have been identified and/or isolated from natural sources are the starting point for the design and development of new molecules with enhanced antimicrobial activity and in some cases these AMPs have been commercialized, increasing our therapeutic options. The design and optimization of peptide sequences involves different synthetic strategies such as: obtaining short linear sequences, dendrimers, cyclic peptides, dimeric peptides, tetrameric peptides, polymeric peptides, inclusion of non-natural amino acids, D-amino acids, organic molecules of non-peptide origin, etc. These modifications require the simultaneous use of methodologies such as solid phase and solution chemical synthesis, click chemistry, oxidation reactions, recombinant technology, etc. Although significant progress has been made in improving the antimicrobial activity of molecules, it is clear that much remains to be done as there is an urgent need for more therapeutic options to combat antimicrobial infections, which are now considered a global public health problem.

Dr. Javier Eduardo García Castañeda
Dr. Zuly Jenny Rivera-Monroy
Guest Editors

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