First report of antifungal activity conferred by non-conventional peptides

Abstract

<p>Peptides are generally composed of 2-100 amino acid residues and well known as key regulators of many physiological processes (Tavormina <i>et al.</i>, 2015" Wang <i>et al.</i>, 2020a). Conventional peptides have been found to exhibit pronounced antifungal activities and are relatively safe for the environment and human health (Marcos <i>et al.</i>, 2008" Ribeiro <i>et al.</i>, 2013). Therefore, antifungal peptides, as novel fungicides, are promising alternatives for combating the increased incidence of antibiotic resistance in plant pathogenic microbes. Recently, non-conventional peptides (NCPs), a novel class of peptides derived from previously unannotated CDSs, have attracted significant attention (Wang <i>et al.</i>, 2020b). Studies have demonstrated that NCPs play essential roles in various biological processes (Khitun <i>et al.</i>, 2019" Plaza <i>et al.</i>, 2017). However, antifungal activity of NCPs has not been reported to date.</p>