Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are important mediator molecules of the innate defense mechanisms in a wide range of living organisms, including bacteria, mammals, and plants. Among them, peptide protease inhibitors (PPIs) from plants play a central role in their defense mechanisms by directly attacking pathogens or by modulating the plant’s defense response. The growing prevalence of microbial resistance to currently available antibiotics has intensified the interest concerning these molecules as novel antimicrobial agents. In this scenario, PPIs isolated from a variety of plants have shown potential in inhibiting the growth of pathogenic bacteria, protozoans, and fungal strains, either by interfering with essential biochemical or physiological processes or by altering the permeability of biological membranes of invading organisms. Moreover, these molecules are active inhibitors of a range of proteases, including aspartic, serine, and cysteine types, with some showing particular efficacy as trypsin and chymotrypsin inhibitors. In this review, we provide a comprehensive analysis of the potential of plant-derived PPIs as novel antimicrobial molecules, highlighting their broad-spectrum antimicrobial efficacy, specificity, and minimal toxicity. These natural compounds exhibit diverse mechanisms of action and often multifunctionality, positioning them as promising molecular scaffolds for developing new therapeutic antibacterial agents.

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植物蛋白酶抑制剂作为新兴抗菌肽制剂：全面综述

抗菌肽 (AMP) 是多种生物体（包括细菌、哺乳动物和植物）先天防御机制的重要介导分子。其中，来自植物的肽蛋白酶抑制剂（PPI）通过直接攻击病原体或调节植物的防御反应，在其防御机制中发挥核心作用。微生物对现有抗生素的耐药性日益普遍，增强了人们对这些分子作为新型抗菌剂的兴趣。在这种情况下，从多种植物中分离出的质子泵抑制剂显示出抑制病原细菌、原生动物和真菌菌株生长的潜力，要么通过干扰基本的生化或生理过程，要么通过改变入侵生物体生物膜的通透性。此外，这些分子是一系列蛋白酶的活性抑制剂，包括天冬氨酸、丝氨酸和半胱氨酸类型，其中一些作为胰蛋白酶和糜蛋白酶抑制剂显示出特殊功效。在这篇综述中，我们对植物源质子泵抑制剂作为新型抗菌分子的潜力进行了全面分析，强调了它们的广谱抗菌功效、特异性和最小毒性。这些天然化合物表现出不同的作用机制，并且通常具有多功能性，使它们成为开发新的治疗性抗菌剂的有前途的分子支架。