Communications Biology (May 2021)

The lexicon of antimicrobial peptides: a complete set of arginine and tryptophan sequences

  • Sam Clark,
  • Thomas A. Jowitt,
  • Lynda K. Harris,
  • Christopher G. Knight,
  • Curtis B. Dobson

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-021-02137-7
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 4, no. 1
pp. 1 – 14

Abstract

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Clark et al. comprehensively explore the primary structural features underlying the activity of a complete set of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). They find that the shortest active peptides were 4 or 5 residues in length, with activity being associated with 40% arginine, and multiple adjacent tryptophan residues. This study provides insights into the design of effective AMPs.