The Generation of Antimicrobial Peptide Activity: A Trade‐off between Charge and Aggregation?

Action stations: Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) can be derived from amyloid-prone regions by introduction of cationic residues at privileged positions (see picture). The design and testing of 24 de novo amyloid-derived AMPs are described, and the likelihood of evolution of amyloid-prone protein regions, devoid of antimicrobial activity, into potent antimicrobial domains is addressed.