Subcellular Proteomics for Understanding Host Defense Peptides Mechanism of Action

Host defense peptides occurring in plants, invertebrates and vertebrates, represent a primary and heterogeneous group of molecules against infectious agents which may act directly on microorganisms or exert a redirectional enhancement of the immune response to them. Such molecules are an alternative if not for substituting at least complementing the classical antibiotics in anti-infective therapies. Several mechanisms of actions have been described for the majority of host defense peptides mostly acting at level of plasma membrane but some of them interacting with intracellular targets. The elucidation of their mechanisms of action besides completing their functional characterization is important for the development of more efficient subsequent molecular variants. Proteomic analyses have been applied for identifying new host defense peptides but few of them have been described for explaining their mechanism of action. In this paper we would like to update the subject remaking the importance of organelle proteomics for such purpose.