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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Sustainable Agricultural Systems Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #321448

Title: Plant antimicrobial peptides

Author
item Mattoo, Autar
item GOYAL, RAVINDER - Aafc Lethrdge Research Center

Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/5/2016
Publication Date: 5/23/2016
Citation: Mattoo, A.K., Goyal, R.K. 2016. Plant antimicrobial peptides. Book Chapter. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-32949-9.

Interpretive Summary: Crop protection against pathogens is inimical to global food security. Immense focus on the ‘R’ gene defense for crop survival against pathogens has demonstrated the short half-life and breakdown of such defense. The discovery of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) as generators of durable plant resistance against target pathogens together with their broad-spectrum activity across kingdoms suggests their promise for enabling crop resistance to disease. This invited book chapter reviews the recent findings and draws the reader’s attention to the potential and resilience of their use in crop resistance. This chapter will interest biologists, pathologists, and breeders interested in developing new crops with durable resistance to disease.

Technical Abstract: Disease afflicts crop productivity as well as nutritional attributes. Pathogens have the ability to mutate rapidly and thereby develop resistance to pesticides. Despite the plant’s multilayer of innate defense against pathogens, the latter are often able to penetrate and establish themselves on the plant host. The discovery of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) has the promise of durable defense by quickly eliminating pathogens through membrane lysis. AMPs characteristically are made up of from fewer than 20 amino acids to about 100 amino acids, and yet are structurally diverse. AMPS in plants are classified into cyclotides, defensins, lipid transfer proteins (LTPs), thionins, snakins, hevein-like peptides, knottin-type peptides, and others. It is important to characterize and study the mechanism of their action in order to develop a wide range of structures with the potential to provide durable plant immunity against pathogens. We bring together recent information on the mechanisms by which AMPs are able to help the plant thwart pathogen attack. Although permeabilizing cellular membranes is a major mechanism known for AMP action, new and diverse modes of action have recently been unearthed, including targeting of intracellular functions of the pathogen.