Selectivity
In the competition of bacterial cells and host cells with the antimicrobial peptides, antimicrobial peptides will preferentially interact with the bacterial cell to the mammalian cells, which enables them to kill microorganisms without being significantly toxic to mammalian cells. Selectivity is a very important feature of the antimicrobial peptides and it can guarantee their function as antibiotics in host defense systems.
Read more about this topic: Antimicrobial Peptides