Plant derived antimicrobial peptides: Mechanism of target, isolation techniques, sources and pharmaceutical applications

Antimicrobial resistance is a global health and development threat which is caused by the excess and prolonged usage of antimicrobial compounds in agriculture and pharmaceutical industries. Resistance of pathogenic microorganisms to the already existing drugs represent a serious risk to public health. Plant sources such as cereals, legumes, fruits and vegetables are potential substrates for the isolation of antimicrobial peptides (AMP) with broad spectrum antimicrobial activity against bacteria, fungi and viruses with novel immunomodulatory activities. Thus, in the quest of new antimicrobial agents, AMPs have recently gained interest. Therefore, AMP can be used in agriculture, pharmaceutical and food industries. This review focuses on various explored and unexplored plant based food sources of AMPs, their isolation techniques and antimicrobial mechanism of peptides. Therefore, the literature discussed in this review paper will prove beneficial the research purposes for agriculture, pharmaceutical and food industries. Practical applications Isolation of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) can be done on industrial scale. AMP isolated from food sources can be used in pharmaceutical and agriculture industries. AMP from natural sources mitigate the problem of antimicrobial resistance. AMP isolated from food products can be used as nutraceutical.