Microbial peptide expression

Antimicrobial peptides have also been postulated to play a central role in the plant innate immune response to microbial infection and include the thionins, the defensins, and the cyclotides. It has been demonstrated that physiological concentrations of the thionins are active against bacteria and fungi in vitro and the heterologous expression of thionins in a transgenic plant model confer protection against bacterial challenge. ... 

Of central importance to the role occupied by host defense peptides within the immune system is the ability of these molecules to distinguish host cells from microbes. It is widely accepted that specific structures and/or functions within the host and microbial cells contribute to this selectivity although host defense peptide localization and regulated expression may also be contributing factors for reducing the toxicity associated with host defense peptides. The following sections discuss the recent literature highlighting this selectivity. 

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