The Bioprospecting of Microbial-Derived Antimicrobial Peptides for Sustainable Agriculture

Strategies aimed at defining, discovering, and developing alternatives to traditional antibiotics will underlie the development of sustainable agricultural systems. Among such strategies, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) with broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity and multifaceted mechanisms of action are recognized as ideal alternatives in the post-antibiotic era. In particular, AMPs derived from microbes with active metabolisms that can adapt to a variety of extreme environments have long been sought after. Consequently, this review summarizes information on naturally occurring AMPs, including their biological activity, antimicrobial mechanisms, and the preparation of microbial-derived AMPs; it also outlines their applications and the challenges presented by their use in the agroindustry. By dissecting the research results on microbial-derived AMPs of previous generations, this study contributes valuable knowledge on the exploration and realization of the applications of AMPs in sustainable agriculture.