Cysteine-rich antimicrobial peptides from plants: The future of antimicrobial therapy.

There has been a spurt in the spread of microbial resistance to antibiotics due to indiscriminate use of antimicrobial agents in human medicine, agriculture, and animal husbandry. It has been realized that conventional antibiotic therapy would be less effective in the coming decades and more emphasis should be given for the development of novel antiinfective therapies. Cysteine rich peptides (CRPs) are broad-spectrum antimicrobial agents that modulate the innate immune system of different life forms such as bacteria, protozoans, fungi, plants, insects, and animals. These are also expressed in several plant tissues in response to invasion by pathogens, and play a crucial role in the regulation of plant growth and development. The present work explores the importance of CRPs as potent antimicrobial agents, which can supplement and/or replace the conventional antibiotics. Different plant parts of diverse plant species showed the presence of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), which had significant structural and functional diversity. The plant-derived AMPs exhibited potent activity toward a range of plant and animal pathogens, protozoans, insects, and even against cancer cells. The cysteine-rich AMPs have opened new avenues for the use of plants as biofactories for the production of antimicrobials and can be considered as promising antimicrobial drugs in biotherapeutics.

Diversidade de fungos micorrízicos arbusculares em pomar orgânico no semiárido cearense / Diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in an organic orchard of semi-arid land of Ceará, Brazil

The arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are key-organisms for maintenance of plant biodiversity in agroecosystems. There is an increasing interest in changes of the microbiological properties in the rhizosphere by its practical and environmental relevance. This research aimed to evaluate the occurrence of AMF in the establishment of fruits under organic management, and to compare them with an area of ​​native vegetation in semiarid Ceará. Soil samples were collected from 0-10cm layer in June, September and December 2010 in different areas. Number of spores, and diversity of AMF were quantified. The dominance of Glomus spores was confirmed in all the areas.

Os fungos micorrízicos arbusculares (FMA) são microrganismos chave na manutenção da biodiversidade de plantas em agroecossistemas e há o interesse no conhecimento sobre alterações nas propriedades microbiológicas do solo rizosférico pela sua relevância do ponto de vista prático e ecológico. Neste trabalho, objetivou-se avaliar a ocorrência de FMA na rizosfera de fruteiras em formação, sob o manejo orgânico, e compará-la com área de vegetação nativa no semiárido cearense. Amostras de solo foram coletadas da camada de 0-10cm em junho, setembro e dezembro de 2010 em áreas distintas nas linhas de plantio de fruteiras irrigadas. As amostras de solo foram submetidas a análises, em que quantificou-se o número de esporos e diversidade de FMA. A dominância de esporos do gênero Glomus foi confirmada na rizosfera das fruteiras e no solo sem interferência de plantas ou sob vegetação natural.