The antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are a group of unique naturally occurring anti-microbial compounds
with around 50 amino acids. It represents promising therapeutic agents to the infectious disease without
concerning about drug resistance. However, commercial development of these peptides for even the simplest
application has been hindered by the limitations of sources, instability, toxicity and bioavailability. To improve
the properties of the artificial synthesized AMPs, the modification and design are the hotspots of the AMPs research.
In fact, more than half of the known AMPs are naturally modified. In this review, two types of modification
strategies, biochemical modification and chemical modification were summarized. Although, the chemical
modification is versatile and direct, the manufacturing cost is greatly increased compared to the antibiotics. With
the recent progress of the protein modification enzyme, the biochemical modification of the antimicrobial peptide
followed by heterologous expression has great application prospects.
Recent Progress in Chemical Modification of Proteins
