Advances in the use of plants as potential biofactories in the production of antimicrobial peptides

Plants subjected to phytopathogens can synthesize peptides with antimicrobial properties. In the last few decades, there has been an impressive increase in the prospection of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) due to continuous demand for the development and manufacture of new antibiotics. In this setting, plants have attracted scientific and pharmaceutical interest and are considered promising AMPs biofactories. However, it is a great challenge to explore the diversity of actions needed to obtain a pharmaceutical product with AMPs derived from plants on a large scale. This review presents the last 5 years main findings on plants used as AMPs biofactories. Published works in this period were reviewed, and perspectives are presented on recombinant AMPs for drug production that appear in a plant-based system, as well as products available on the market.