Table 1.

Antimicrobial peptides that specifically target fungi

Name of the group	Representative peptides	Origin	Structure	Mechanism	MW1	Susceptible strain	References
β-glucan synthase inhibitors	Echinocandins Pneumocandins Aculeacins	Fungi	Cyclic lipopeptides	Inhibition of glucan synthesis	1000	Candida spp. P.carinii Aspergillus spp	Benz F et al, 1974(47); Fromtling R et al, 1989(50); Iwata K et al, 1982(58)
	Mulundocandins		Threonine is substituted by serine; and lineoyl with 12- methylmyristoyl				Roy K et al, 1987(60); Hawser S et al, 1999(61)
Cell wall chitin inhibitors	Nikkomycins Polyoxins	Bacteria	Nucleoside peptide antibiotic	Inhibition of chitin synthesis	Nikkomycin Z 495	Candida spp. Coccidiodes immitis Balstomyces dermatides Histoplasma capsulatum	McCarthy P et al, (66); Hector R et al, 1990(67)
	Aureobasidins	Fungi	cyclic lipophilic depsipeptide with 8 amino acids and an- hydroxyacid	Inhibition of actin and chitin assembly; synthesis of sphingolipids	1100	Candida spp C. neoformans.	Ikai K et al, 1991(69); Endo M et al, 1997(70); Nagiec M et al, 1997(71)
Membrane-targeting inhibitors	Rs-ARF2	Plants	α-helical 3-stranded β-sheets, 4 disulphide bridges	Target membrane glycosylcerebroside, induces reactive oxygen species, membrane lysis (?)	5730	Candida albicans, C. krusei, A. flavus, Fusarim solani.	Schaaper W et al, 2001(76); Thevissen K et al, 2007(73)
	Drosomycin	Insects	α-helical 3-stranded β-sheets, 4 disulphide bridges	Target voltage- gated sodium channel (?), Membrane lysis (?)	5250	F. oxysporum N. crassa S.cerevisiae	Fehlbaum P et al, 1994(74); Bulet P et al, 2005(276); Yuan Y et al, 2007(277); Cohen L et al, 2009(77)
	Bacillomycin F Iturin A	Bacteria	Cyclic with lipid-soluble β-amino acid linked to the D/L aa	Lysis by pore formation and leakage of key ions	1000	Aspergillus niger C.albicans F.oxysporum A. flavus F. moniliforme	Besson F et al, 1984(81) Mhammedi A et al, 1982(82)
Histatins	Histatin 1–12	Primates	α-helical in hydrophobic environment; increase histidine content	Mechanism uncertain (Target mitochondria vs. Trk1 potassium transporter vs lysis of energized membrane)	Histatin1: 4880; Histatin 3: 4060; Histatin: 5: 3040	Candida spp. Trichosporon pollulans, Cryptococcus neoformans, A. fumigatus,	Pollock J et al, 1984(88); Helmerhorst E et al, 1999(90); Tsai H et al, 1997(91); Baev D et al, 2004(108); Mochon A et al, 2008(105); Troxler R et al, 1990(278)

¹-Approximate molecular weight