Insect Immunity and Antimicrobial Peptides
A special issue of Life (ISSN 2075-1729). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Science".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2024) | Viewed by 420
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Insects and microorganisms interact within the biosphere in numerous ways. Due to the deficiency of acquired immunity, insects mainly rely on their innate immunity to defend against attacks carried out by bacteria, fungi, parasites, and viruses. The insects’ innate immunity is triggered by host pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) that recognize conserved pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) of microbes. Once PAMPs are recognized by PRRs, the insects initiate cellular and humoral immunity, which includes the production of many antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). Insect immunity is regulated by several different signal pathways, such as the Toll, IMD, JNK, and JAK-STAT pathways, which activate final effectors to combat a wide array of invading pathogens. AMPs, as key effectors, play important roles in the innate immunity of insects. Currently, the Antimicrobial Peptide Database lists >3500 AMPs, 367 of which are from insects. AMPs usually exhibit high sequence diversity and wide bioactivity spectra. Numerous AMPs are also active against multidrug-resistant microbes. AMPs kill microorganisms through their unique non-specific membrane mechanism or by targeting specific intracellular components. Although the research in this field is quickly evolving, the molecular mechanisms mediating insect immunity, mining of novel AMPs, action mechanisms of AMPs, and their potential application require further study. This Special Issue aims to publish papers on the characterization, mode of action and application of insect immunity and antimicrobial peptides. The elucidation of insects immunity can be helpful for developing the pest biocontrol strategies, reducing insect-borne disease transmission, enhancing immune priming of pollinating insects, etc. In addition, AMPs research will facilitate the design of novel drugs in food, agriculture, environment, animal husbandry and pharmaceutical industries. Thus, we warmly invite you to submit your recent findings to this Special Issue in the form of original research articles and reviews that address issues related to insect immunity and antimicrobial peptides.
Dr. Xiangli Dang
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- insect immunity
- innate immunity
- signal pathway
- antimicrobial peptides
- bacteria
- fungi
- viruses
- parasite
- mode of action
- application
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