Identification of plant-derived antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) from resistant wild potato species as new bio-pesticides against major bacterial and fungal potato diseases in Canada

抗菌肽是一种源于宿主先天免疫系统的天然抗生素。它们存在于从微生物到人类的所有生命形式中。为了应对病原体的攻击，AMP被迅速释放，形成**第一道防线。带正电的AMPs结合在带负电的细菌膜上，或位于真菌细胞壁的带负电的糖蛋白上，导致病原体的膜去极化和死亡。由于其直接和有效的作用模式，AMP增加耐药性的风险最小，**使它们成为治疗耐药感染的传统抗生素的极佳替代品。AMPS也被广泛用作食品防腐剂。相比之下，AMP在农业中的应用在很大程度上受到了法规的阻碍，而且公众对AMP转基因植物的接受度很低。我们最初的目标是**利用生物创新**填补以AMP为基础的生物制品在植物病原菌控制方面的不足。与Progest 2001 Inc.合作，我们将探索已知高度抵抗细菌和真菌入侵的野生**马铃薯物种的新型AMP的潜力，与栽培马铃薯相反。**这些AMP将单独和组合在主要细菌和真菌**马铃薯病原体上表达和测试，方法是在培养皿上进行经典的杀菌活性分析，在96孔板中使用基于重天青的微量稀释**方法，并使用可以同时监控多个实验的微流控设备，**提高健壮性、速度和更低的培养介质成本，具体取决于所测试的病原体。

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are natural antibiotics arising from the host innate immune system. They exist**in all life forms from microorganisms to humans. In response to pathogen attack, AMPs are rapidly released to**form a first line of defense. Positively charged AMPs bind to the negatively charged bacterial membrane, or the**negatively charged glycoproteins located at the fungal cell walls, leading to membrane depolarization and death**of the pathogens. Due to their direct and potent mode of action, AMPs have minimal risk of raising resistance,**making them an excellent alternative to traditional antibiotics in treatment of resistant infections. AMPs have**also been widely used as food preservatives. In contrast, the application of AMPs in agriculture has been**largely hindered by regulations and minimal public acceptance of AMP-transgenic plants. Our initial goal is to**fill the gap of insufficient development of AMP-based biological products in plant pathogen control using**bio-innovation. In collaboration with Progest 2001 Inc., we will explore the potential of novel AMPs from wild**potato species known to be highly resistant to bacterial and fungal invasion, contrary to the cultivated potato.**These AMPs, individually and in combinations, will be expressed and tested on major bacterial and fungal**potato pathogens using classical microbicidal activity assay on Petri dishes, the Resazurin-based microdilution**method in 96-well plates, and with microfluidic devices that can monitor multiple experiments simultaneously,**increase robustness, speed and lower culture media costs, depending on the pathogen tested.