Antimicrobial peptides, also called host-defense peptides, are an evolutionary conserved component of the innate immune response and are found among all classes of life.
This special issue presents a selection of papers comprising reviews, original research articles and short notes from the First International Symposium on Antimicrobial Peptides, held in Nantes in June 2007. It discusses findings from fundamental and applied research, which illustrates future prospects and challenges of antimicrobial peptide science. Topics include the study of resistance mechanisms, the mode of action of antimicrobial peptides and their structure-function relationship. Antimicrobial peptides are promising candidates for novel therapeutic agents, complementing conventional antibiotic therapies to combat pathogenic microorganisms in human and veterinary medicine. Microbiologists, cell and molecular biologists, biochemists as well as infectious disease specialists will find a useful overview of the latest finding in antimicrobial peptide research.