Background

The rapid increase of drug resistance in conventional antibiotics promotes the discovery and development of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), which are important components of natural immunity. Due to the specific action modes targeting for cell membrane, AMPs have become a promising substance for bacterium inhibitions barely with no drug resistance. Here we reviewed the structure characteristics related with bactericide actions, including peptides constituents, molecular length, molecular charges and so on. And we also summarized the common mode of actions of AMPs raised by researchers. The structure-mechanism relationship was discussed. The commonly used methods for mechanism study were also listed.

Key findings and conclusions

The structures of AMPs were strongly related with its efficacy, such as constituents, molecular length, charges, secondary structures. The main mechanisms of AMPs were divided into membrane targets and intracellular targets. Some advanced and new techniques were applied in the mechanism study. Most of the existed mechanisms are still suppositional, and techniques were mainly focused on membrane-associated mechanism, only few of them were related with intracellular factors. Therefore, more new methods are expected to explore the authentic mechanisms and better results as well as more intracellular targets. This review provides a reference for future AMPs chemical modification and mechanism exploration.

中文翻译：

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抗菌肽的结构-机理关系和作用方式综述

背景

传统抗生素中耐药性的迅速提高促进了抗菌肽（AMPs）的发现和发展，这是天然免疫力的重要组成部分。由于靶向细胞膜的特定作用方式，AMP几乎没有耐药性，已成为一种有希望的细菌抑制物质。在这里，我们审查了与杀菌作用有关的结构特征，包括肽成分，分子长度，分子电荷等。并且我们还总结了研究人员提出的AMP的常见作用方式。讨论了结构机制关系。还列出了用于机理研究的常用方法。

主要发现和结论

AMPs的结构与其功效密切相关，例如组成，分子长度，电荷，二级结构。AMPs的主要机制分为膜靶和细胞内靶。机理研究中采用了一些先进的新技术。现有的大多数机制仍是推测性的，技术主要集中在膜相关机制上，只有少数与细胞内因子有关。因此，期望有更多的新方法来探索真实的机制和更好的结果以及更多的细胞内靶标。本文为今后AMPs的化学修饰和机理探索提供参考。