Marine Antimicrobial Peptides: From Ocean Biodiversity to Genome Mining, Multi-Omics Discovery, and Biotechnological Innovation in the Battle Against Antimicrobial Resistance

Abstract

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has become a significant global health crisis, endangering human health and economic stability. Because traditional antibiotics are no longer effective against pathogens that are resistant to multiple drugs, new antimicrobial strategies are urgently needed. Marine ecosystems, which include the most diverse and extreme habitats on Earth, are home to a huge number of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) that have unique structures and functions. Many marine AMPs have unique qualities that set them apart from land-based AMPs. For example, they can tolerate high levels of salt, modulate the immune system, and work against a wide range of pathogens. This review gives a broad look at marine-derived AMPs, covering their variety, types, how they work, and how they resist. Biotechnological advances, including omics-guided discovery, recombinant expression systems, peptide engineering, and nanodelivery platforms, are changing AMPs from molecules that haven't been studied much into products that can be made in large quantities and improved. The current work also points out that they can be used in biomedicine as new anti-infective and immunomodulatory drugs, in aquaculture as long-lasting alternatives to antibiotics for managing fish health, and in industrial biotechnology as natural preservatives and agents for controlling biofilm. The merging of marine biotechnology, synthetic biology, and computational peptide design looks very promising for solving the problems of stability, cost, and delivery that we have now. Marine AMPs are likely to be important parts of the next generation of antimicrobial strategies against AMR because they combine marine biodiversity with modern engineering tools.