FungiGuard: identification of plant antifungal peptides with artificial intelligence

Antifungal peptides (AFPs) are crucial for plant defense against biotic stress. Yet, no artificial intelligence tool specifically classifies plant AFPs. To fill this gap, we develop FungiGuard, which integrates Random Forest, Long Short-Term Memory, and attention mechanisms to identify AFPs using functionally annotated plant small peptides. FungiGuard outperforms existing generalized AFP model in classifying plant AFPs, and detects candidate AFPs in Arabidopsis, wheat, rice, and maize. It also discovers novel AFPs through randomly generated sequences. Experimental validation confirms the antifungal activity of candidate AFP against Botrytis cinerea. This tool deepens plant AFP understanding and facilitates novel AFP discovery.