Cette revue a été rédigée dans le cadre du projet TickTox et de la thèse  de Valentin Leannec-Rialland.

Les connaissances rassemblées danscet article soutiennent fortement l'avenir prometteur des solutions de protection des plantes à base de défensine, tout en soulignant les obstacles qui doivent encore être surmontés pour traduire les résultats de la recherche in vitro sur les défensines en produits commerciaux.

Leannec-Rialland, Valentin; Vessela Atanasova, Sylvain Chereau, Miray Tonk-Rügen, Alejandro Cabezas-Cruz, and Florence Richard-Forget. 2022. "Use of Defensins to Develop Eco-Friendly Alternatives to Synthetic Fungicides to Control Phytopathogenic Fungi and Their Mycotoxins" Journal of Fungi 8, no. 3: 229. https://doi.org/10.3390/jof8030229

Résumé anglais

Crops are threatened by numerous fungal diseases that can adversely affect the availability and quality of agricultural commodities. In addition, some of these fungal phytopathogens have the capacity to produce mycotoxins that pose a serious health threat to humans and livestock. To facilitate the transition towards sustainable environmentally friendly agriculture, there is an urgent need to develop innovative methods allowing a reduced use of synthetic fungicides while guaranteeing optimal yields and the safety of the harvests. Several defensins have been reported to display antifungal and even—despite being under-studied—antimycotoxin activities and could be promising natural molecules for the development of control strategies. This review analyses pioneering and recent work addressing the bioactivity of defensins towards fungal phytopathogens; the details of approximately 100 active defensins and defensin-like peptides occurring in plants, mammals, fungi and invertebrates are listed. Moreover, the multi-faceted mechanism of action employed by defensins, the opportunity to optimize large-scale production procedures such as their solubility, stability and toxicity to plants and mammals are discussed. Overall, the knowledge gathered within the present review strongly supports the bright future held by defensin-based plant protection solutions while pointing out the obstacles that still need to be overcome to translate defensin-based in vitro research findings into commercial products.