Recent insights into structure-function relationships of antimicrobial peptides

The application of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) in food preservation presents a promising alternative and offers many benefits, such as reducing the use of chemical preservatives, reducing food losses due to spoilage, and development of health-promoting food supplements. The biological activity of AMPs largely dependent on several physicochemical features including charge, the degree of helicity, hydrophobicity, and sequence. The present review provides an overview of the structural classification of AMPs emphasizing the importance of their structural features for biological activity, followed by the description of some antimicrobial mechanism of action. Despite the several hurdles that must be overcome for the exploitation of food-derived AMPs in drug discovery and food systems, the developments discussed in this review offer a taste of future trends in food and pharmaceutical applications of these intriguing molecules.