Antimicrobial peptides: natural templates for next-generation therapeutics against antimicrobial resistance

Antimicrobial resistance is a growing global health crisis, responsible for nearly five million deaths annually and projected to double by 2050 as conventional antibiotics fail against multidrug-resistant pathogens. AMR is aggravated by antibiotic misuse, weak regulations, inadequate prevention, high treatment costs, and the limited discovery of new antimicrobials. In this context, antimicrobial peptides, including natural, synthetic, and computationally designed variants, have emerged as promising alternatives. AMPs display broad-spectrum antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antiparasitic, antibiofilm, and immunomodulatory activities, with a lower tendency to induce resistance. Their mechanisms include…