A Dynamic Overview of Antimicrobial Peptides and Their Complexes.

In this narrative review, we comprehensively review the available information about the recognition, structure, and dynamics of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). Their complex behaviors occur across a wide range of time scales and have been challenging to portray. Recent advances in nuclear magnetic resonance and molecular dynamics simulations have revealed the importance of the molecular plasticity of AMPs and their abilities to recognize targets.

Revealing the properties of plant defensins through dynamics.

Defensins are potent, ancient natural antibiotics that are present in organisms ranging from lower organisms to humans. Although the structures of several defensins have been well characterized, the dynamics of only a few have been studied. This review discusses the diverse dynamics of two plant defensins for which the structure and dynamics have been characterized, both in the free state and in the presence of target membranes.

Portrayal of complex dynamic properties of sugarcane defensin 5 by NMR: multiple motions associated with membrane interaction.

Defensins are essentially ancient natural antibiotics with potent activity extending from lower organisms to humans. Sd5 is a recently described antifungal defensin that appears to be the result of a recent gain of function. We reported here the solution NMR structure of Sd5 and characterized the backbone dynamics in the free state and in the presence of membrane models.