The goal of this review is to characterize defensins representing an evolutionary the most ancient family of antimicrobial peptides. It gives general information on functional and structural features of defensins as the main components of the first-line defense of higher eukaryote organisms against infectious agents. The review considers not only current situation in the defensin research but also perspectives of creation of recombinant antimicrobial peptides of biomedical application.
Tsel'iu dannogo obzora iavliaetsia obshchaia kharakteristika defenzinov iz raznykh biologicheskikh istochnikov, predstavliaiushchikh évoliutsionno naibolee drevnee semeĭstvo antimikrobnykh peptidov. V stat'e dany obshchie predstavleniia o funktsional'nykh i strukturnykh osobennostiakh defenzinov kak osnovnykh komponentov pervoĭ linii zashchity organizma vysshikh éukariot ot infektsionnykh agentov. V obzore rassmotreny ne tol'ko nastoiashchee polozhenie del, no i perspektivy polucheniia rekombinantnykh antimikrobnykh peptidov biomeditsinskogo naznacheniia.
Keywords: antimicrobial peptides; defensins; mechanism of bactericidal action of defensins; recombinant antimicrobial peptides.