Role of antimicrobial peptide in fish immunity

            Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are an important component of innate immunity across all classes of life ranging from prokaryotes to higher animals. Being a key component of innate immunity, AMPs are produced in the sites which are at high risk of pathogen invasion. The main advantage of AMPs possesses broad spectrum antimicrobial activity and can function without memory and specificity, against bacteria, fungi, virus and even parasites. They also exhibit diverse biological functions such as immunomodulation, neutralization of endotoxin and induction of angiogenesis, wound healing, antitumor in addition to its antimicrobial activity. AMPs generally consist of 10 to 50 amino acids and most of them are cationic in nature with a net charge of +2 to +9, although some anionic (negatively charged) AMPs have also been discovered.