Recent achievements and perspectives for large-scale recombinant production of antimicrobial peptides

Antibiotic resistance poses a growing threat to global public health. It is urgent to develop new alternative antibiotics. Antimicrobial peptide (AMP) is a diverse class of natural-occurring molecules that constitute immune systems of living organisms. More than 2500 AMPs have been identified and isolated from natural sources. Compared to conventional antibiotics, AMPs exhibit antimicrobial activities against a broad spectrum of microorganisms including bacteria, fungi, and even viruses. More importantly, the unique antimicrobial mechanisms of AMPs make it difficult for microorganisms to develop resistance. Therefore, it is very promising to develop AMPs as high-value antimicrobial candidates. This mini review provides an update of recent progresses in recombinant production of AMPs after fusion of AMP with carrier proteins and their scale-up. Key factors including selection of expression host and fusion tags are firstly introduced, followed by subsequent discussions on purification of fusion proteins and recovery of antimicrobial peptides. The scale production of AMPs is also explored.