Structural analysis as an alternative to identify and determine mode of action of antimicrobial peptides: proposition of a kinetic model based on molecular dynamics studies.

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) constitute an important alternative in the search for new treatments against pathogens. We analyzed the sequence variability in cytokine and chemokine proteins to investigate whether these molecules contain a sequence useful in the development of new AMPs. Cluster analysis allowed the identification of tracts, grouped in five categories showing structure and sequence homology.