Abstract

The temporins are a group of small, linear, basic, highly hydrophobic, antibiotic, peptide amides that were originally isolated from the skin of the European red frog, Rana temporaria. During the past decade, 30 temporin or temporin-like peptides have been isolated from the skins of Anurans. This article presents a brief review of the temporin literature, an analysis of the amino acid sequences of temporins and temporin-like peptides, and the derivation of a composite or consensus sequence, [FLP(I/L)IASLL(S/G)KLL-am].