Lakshmi Sunkara

IntroductionWidespread use of antibiotics as growth promoters in animal feed is suspected to be a major driving force for the development of antibiotic-resistant pathogens, which have become a critical public health concern worldwide. Enhancing host immunity and disease resistance by specifically boosting the synthesis of endogenous host defense peptides (HDPs) may represent a promising antibiotic ...

IntroductionHost defense peptides (HDPs), also known as antimicrobial peptides, are present in virtually all species of life and constitute a critical component of the innate immunity [1,2,3,4,5]. Defensins and cathelicidins represent two major families of HDPs in vertebrates [6,7,8,9,10,11]. While defensins are categorized by the presence of six conserved cysteine residues in the C-terminal matur ...

IntroductionInfectious diseases continue to pose significant economic losses to the animal industry. The routine use of antibiotics at subtherapeutic doses for disease prevention in animal production practices is suspected to be a major force that drives the emergence of antibiotic-resistant pathogens [1,2]. Therefore, it is imperative to develop novel antimicrobial strategies with a low risk of t ...