Figure 1.

The diverse mechanistic modes of action for antimicrobial peptides. The figure means two main kinds of AMPs namely membrane-active AMPs and intracellular-active AMPs. The mechanism of membrane-active AMPs includes the “barrel-stave”, “toroidal”, “carpet” and “aggregate channel” models (A); B-G means the mechanism of intracellular-active AMPs. A, membrane activity contains Toroidal model, Carpet model, Barrel-stave model and Aggregate channel model; B, Inhibition of enzymes necessary for linking of cell wall structural proteins; C, Inhibition of DNA synthesis; D, Inhibition of RNA synthesis; E, Inhibition of ribosomal function and protein synthesis; F, Blocking of chaperone proteins necessary for proper folding of proteins; G, inhibition of cellular respiration and induction of ROS formation and damage of mitochondrial cell membrane integrity and efflux of ATP and NADH.