A review of a promising therapeutic and agronomical alternative: Antimicrobial peptides from Capsicum sp.

Abstract

Pathogenic microorganisms cause great losses annually and are a constant threat to agriculture and food production. The strategies used to control pathogen microorganisms’ population such as spraying of fungicides, bactericides or insecticides are becoming ineffective as pathogens have being developing resistance against many of these compounds. Today, in agriculture there are serious concerns regarding the increasing volumes of pesticides that must be applied to control plant pathogens, and the environmental contamination. The development of safer and more efficient compounds to control plant pathogens is a demand that guarantees food production with the absence of residual pesticides. An opportunity that fulfills these criteria is represented by the antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), a class of small rich cysteine peptides with biological activities to kill fungi and bacteria. Sources for AMPs have been studied in animals and plants. However, it is clear that plants are an accessible and cheaper source for this kind of compounds. Many AMPs are produced in organs that are regarded as waste after plants’ fruits or seeds have been harvested. AMPs from Chili pepper (Capsicum sp) have been extracted from leaves and seeds. The genes encoding AMP are being expressed in heterologous systems to explore the potential of these genes to protect the host against pathogens. In the present study, we carried out a review to highlight the work related with the production and cloning of AMPs from chili pepper. We also included our findings regarding the cloning of a defensin gene from habanero pepper leaves (Capsicum chinense Jacq) and the antimicrobial activity of some of their AMPs isolated from seeds.

Key words: Antimicrobial peptides, Capsicum sp, Capsicum chinense, chili pepper, agronomical options, therapeutic options.