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CALL FOR PAPERS: Comparative Genomics
1 Department of Animal Science, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma; and 2 Department of Anatomy and Physiology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas
Mammalian ß-defensins are an important family of innate host defense peptides with pleiotropic activities. As a first step to study the evolutionary relationship and biological role of the ß-defensin family, we identified their complete repertoires in the human, chimpanzee, mouse, rat, and dog following systemic, genome-wide computational searches. Although most ß-defensin genes are composed of two exons separated by an intron of variable length, some contain an additional one or two exons encoding an internal pro-sequence, a segment of carboxy-terminal mature sequences or untranslated regions. Alternatively, spliced isoforms have also been found with several ß-defensins. Furthermore, all ß-defensin genes are densely clustered in four to five syntenic chromosomal regions, with each cluster spanning <1.2 Mb across the five species. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that, although the majority of ß-defensins are evolutionarily conserved across species, subgroups of gene lineages exist that are specific in certain species, implying that some ß-defensins originated after divergence of these mammals from each other, while most others arose before the last common ancestor of mammals. Surprisingly, RT-PCR revealed that all but one rat ß-defensin transcript are preferentially expressed in the male reproductive tract, particularly in epididymis and testis, except that Defb4, a human ß-defensin-2 ortholog, is more restricted to the respiratory and upper gastrointestinal tracts. Moreover, most ß-defensins expressed in the reproductive tract are developmentally regulated, with enhanced expression during sexual maturation. Existence of such a vast array of ß-defensins in the male reproductive tract suggests that these genes may play a dual role in both fertility and host defense.
defensin; antimicrobial peptide; innate immunity; fertility; comparative genomics
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