In recent years, the deterioration of the aquaculture ecological environment has led to a high incidence of fish diseases. Lysozymes, important antimicrobial enzymes, play an important role in the innate immune system of fish. The studies of fish lysozymes benefit the control of fish infections caused by pathogens. In this review, we reviewed recent progress in fish lysozymes, including their classification, structural characteristics, biological functions and mechanisms, tissue distributions, and properties of their recombinant proteins, which will help us to systematically understand the fish lysozymes and facilitate their applications in the fields of food and agriculture.
Keywords: antimicrobial mechanisms; classification; fish lysozymes; structural characteristics; tissue distributions.