Penaeidins, antimicrobial peptides of shrimp:: a comparison with other effectors of innate immunity

The production of antimicrobial peptides is a first-line host defense mechanism of innate immunity, However, in spite of the importance of infectious diseases in crustaceans, few molecules displaying antimicrobial activities have been fully characterized in these invertebrates. This paper presents the recent findings on the identification of a family of antimicrobial peptides, named penaeidins, in the shrimp Penaeus vannamei. The penaeidins are original, 5.5 to 6.6 kDa peptides which combine a proline-rich amino-terminal domain and a carboxyl-domain containing six cysteines engaged in three disulfide bridges. These two domains are respectively compared, structurally and biologically, with other molecules hitherto characterized in a wide range of living organisms, from plants to invertebrates and vertebrates. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.