Discovery of linear cyclotides in monocot plant Panicum laxum of Poaceae family provides new insights into evolution and distribution of cyclotides in plants.

Cyclotides are disulfide-rich macrocyclic peptides that display a wide range of bioactivities and represent an important group of plant defense peptide biologics. A few linear variants of cyclotides have recently been identified. They share a high sequence homology with cyclotides but are biosynthetically unable to cyclize from their precursors.