Cathelicidin family

General Activity
Cathelicidins are a family of antimicrobial peptides acting as multifunctional effector molecules of innate immunity, which are first found in mammals. In snake venom, they show the same activity.

Sequence characteristics
Most cathelicidins are linear molecules without disulfide bridges, characterized by the presence of a highly conserved anionic cathelin domain. The precursors are composed of a signal peptide, a conserved propeptide cathelin domain (about 135 residues long) and a C-terminal mature antimicrobial peptide (about 34 residues). Upon activation, most of cathelicidin precursors are proteolytically cleaved to release the cathelin domain and the C-terminal mature antimicrobial peptides (Zhao et al., 2008).