{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,12]],"date-time":"2026-05-12T15:50:28Z","timestamp":1778601028380,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":25,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,19]],"date-time":"2026-03-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1773878400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":18,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,1]],"date-time":"2026-03-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1772323200000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/doi.wiley.com\/10.1002\/tdm_license_1.1"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004608","name":"Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["BK20220242"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["BK20220242"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004608","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["bsppjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Molecular Plant Pathology"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,3]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>\n                    The emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a significant threat to global health and food security. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), particularly those characterised by \u03b1\u2010helical structures, represent a promising alternative due to their broad\u2010spectrum activity and unique mechanisms of action.\n                    <jats:italic>Pectobacterium brasiliense<\/jats:italic>\n                    is a destructive bacterial pathogen affecting solanaceous crops but effective control measures remain insufficient. This study aims to optimise pseudothionin AMPs using AI\u2010based protein language models, ESM\u20103 and ESMFold, to enhance their antibacterial efficacy. Using ESM\u20103, we generated multiple analogs of Pth\u2010Ca1 with increased net charge, hydrophobicity and helical ratio. Among these, Design_1867 exhibited the strongest antibacterial activity against both\n                    <jats:styled-content style=\"fixed-case\">\n                      <jats:italic>Escherichia coli<\/jats:italic>\n                    <\/jats:styled-content>\n                    and\n                    <jats:styled-content style=\"fixed-case\">\n                      <jats:italic>P. brasiliense<\/jats:italic>\n                    <\/jats:styled-content>\n                    , with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of 31.25\u2009\u03bcg\/mL. Design_1867 was found to bind bacterial DNA and induce pore formation in bacterial membranes through a barrel\u2010stave mechanism, similar to the reference peptide alamethicin. Reverse transcription\u2010quantitative PCR analyses revealed the downregulation of key genes associated with membrane integrity and biofilm formation. In planta assays confirmed its efficacy and low cytotoxicity. This study demonstrates the successful application of ESM\u20103 and ESMFold for the rational design of highly effective AMPs. Design_1867 exhibits potent antimicrobial activity against\n                    <jats:styled-content style=\"fixed-case\">\n                      <jats:italic>P. brasiliense<\/jats:italic>\n                    <\/jats:styled-content>\n                    with minimal toxicity, underscoring the potential of AI\u2010driven AMP optimisation for sustainable agricultural disease management.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1111\/mpp.70250","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,20]],"date-time":"2026-03-20T04:29:51Z","timestamp":1773980991000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Protein Language Model\u2010Driven Optimisation of Antimicrobial Peptide Pth\u2010Ca1 Against\n                    <i>Pectobacterium brasiliense<\/i>\n                    Using\n                    <scp>ESMFold<\/scp>\n                    \u2010Predicted Structures and the\n                    <scp>ESM<\/scp>\n                    \u20103 Model"],"prefix":"10.1111","volume":"27","author":[{"given":"Linhui","family":"Song","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory for Quality and Safety of Agro\u2010Products, Key Laboratory of Biotechnology in Plant Protection of MARA, Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Green Plant Protection, Institute of Plant Virology Ningbo University  Ningbo China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ge","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory for Quality and Safety of Agro\u2010Products, Key Laboratory of Biotechnology in Plant Protection of MARA, Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Green Plant Protection, Institute of Plant Virology Ningbo University  Ningbo China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mengying","family":"Hua","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory for Quality and Safety of Agro\u2010Products, Key Laboratory of Biotechnology in Plant Protection of MARA, Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Green Plant Protection, Institute of Plant Virology Ningbo University  Ningbo China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jingna","family":"Yuan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory for Quality and Safety of Agro\u2010Products, Key Laboratory of Biotechnology in Plant Protection of MARA, Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Green Plant Protection, Institute of Plant Virology Ningbo University  Ningbo China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0005-6241-8159","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jian","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory for Quality and Safety of Agro\u2010Products, Key Laboratory of Biotechnology in Plant Protection of MARA, Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Green Plant Protection, Institute of Plant Virology Ningbo University  Ningbo China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Huan","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Suzhou Academy of Agricultural Sciences  Suzhou China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0049-8588","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Fei","family":"Yan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory for Quality and Safety of Agro\u2010Products, Key Laboratory of Biotechnology in Plant Protection of MARA, Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Green Plant Protection, Institute of Plant Virology Ningbo University  Ningbo China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jiejun","family":"Peng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory for Quality and Safety of Agro\u2010Products, Key Laboratory of Biotechnology in Plant Protection of MARA, Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Green Plant Protection, Institute of Plant Virology Ningbo University  Ningbo China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_6_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1094\/PDIS-07-14-0742-PDN"},{"key":"e_1_2_6_3_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1365-2672.2004.02173.x"},{"key":"e_1_2_6_4_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/bioinformatics\/btn392"},{"key":"e_1_2_6_5_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1046\/j.1365-2672.1999.00684.x"},{"key":"e_1_2_6_6_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/science.ads0018"},{"key":"e_1_2_6_7_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41467-021-25580-w"},{"key":"e_1_2_6_8_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41586-021-03819-2"},{"key":"e_1_2_6_9_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.colsurfb.2014.03.018"},{"key":"e_1_2_6_10_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0006-3495(94)80784-2"},{"key":"e_1_2_6_11_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.scitotenv.2022.160461"},{"key":"e_1_2_6_12_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cej.2020.124648"},{"key":"e_1_2_6_13_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/science.ade2574"},{"key":"e_1_2_6_14_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1432-1033.1994.tb18974.x"},{"key":"e_1_2_6_15_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41579-025-01200-y"},{"key":"e_1_2_6_16_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0005-2736(99)00200-X"},{"key":"e_1_2_6_17_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.sbi.2023.102733"},{"key":"e_1_2_6_18_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/1097-0282(2000)55:1<4::AID-BIP30>3.0.CO;2-M"},{"key":"e_1_2_6_19_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41586-023-06953-1"},{"key":"e_1_2_6_20_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3390\/ph6060728"},{"key":"e_1_2_6_21_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/nar\/gkv1278"},{"key":"e_1_2_6_22_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/nar\/gkaf860"},{"key":"e_1_2_6_23_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/psc.2705"},{"key":"e_1_2_6_24_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1021\/acs.biomac.6b01285"},{"key":"e_1_2_6_25_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/nar\/gkae1019"},{"key":"e_1_2_6_26_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1124\/pr.55.1.2"}],"container-title":["Molecular Plant Pathology"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/bsppjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1111\/mpp.70250","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/bsppjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1111\/mpp.70250","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/bsppjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1111\/mpp.70250","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,27]],"date-time":"2026-03-27T09:05:55Z","timestamp":1774602355000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/bsppjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1111\/mpp.70250"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,3]]},"references-count":25,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,3]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1111\/mpp.70250"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/mpp.70250","archive":["Portico"],"relation":{},"ISSN":["1464-6722","1364-3703"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1464-6722","type":"print"},{"value":"1364-3703","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,3]]},"assertion":[{"value":"2025-11-05","order":0,"name":"received","label":"Received","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2026-03-06","order":2,"name":"accepted","label":"Accepted","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2026-03-19","order":3,"name":"published","label":"Published","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}}],"article-number":"e70250"}}