A Scoping Review of Snail Antibacterial Peptides and Proteins: From Natural Defence to Translational Prospects

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) remains a pressing global health concern that urges the development of novel therapeutics. Snails, shaped by diverse ecological niches and evolutionary pressures, have emerged as promising reservoirs of antimicrobial peptides and proteins (AMPs). However, existing evidence on snail-derived AMPs remains scattered and underexplored. This scoping review presents the first systematic synthesis focused on AMPs derived from snails, bridging scattered literature into a unified perspective that integrates their diversity, structural features, mechanisms of action, and translational potential. Following the PRISMA-ScR guideline, a comprehensive search was conducted across five major databases, which identified over one hundred AMPs from 28 eligible studies, selected from 1736 records published between 2000 and 2025. The review demonstrates that AMP-producing snails span terrestrial, freshwater, and marine environments, reflecting wide taxonomic and ecological adaptability. The identified AMPs exhibit notable structural diversity, including variation in amino acid richness, secondary structures, and conserved functional domains, and demonstrate broad-spectrum antibacterial activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Several AMPs also show activity against clinically significant ESKAPE pathogens and multidrug-resistant strains prioritised by the WHO. These peptides display high antibacterial potency and multifaceted mechanisms, including membrane disruption, enzymatic degradation, and intracellular targeting activities. Notably, this review highlights their potential relevance in medical, aquaculture, and cosmetic applications. By consolidating fragmented findings from the past 25 years, it provides an application-oriented framework that may guide future discovery and translational efforts. The need for interdisciplinary research and translational strategies will be crucial to reveal the full therapeutic potential of snail-derived AMPs against AMR.