Journal article
Discovery of five conserved β-defensin gene clusters using a computational search strategy
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS, Vol.99(4), pp.2129-2133
02/19/2002
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.042692699
PMCID: PMC122330
PMID: 11854508
Abstract
The innate immune system includes antimicrobial peptides that protect multicellular organisms from a diverse spectrum of microorganisms. β-Defensins comprise one important family of mammalian antimicrobial peptides. The annotation of the human genome fails to reveal the expected diversity, and a recent query of the draft sequence with the
blast
search engine found only one new β-defensin gene (
DEFB3
). To define better the β-defensin gene family, we adopted a genomics approach that uses
hmmer
, a computational search tool based on hidden Markov models, in combination with
blast
. This strategy identified 28 new human and 43 new mouse β-defensin genes in five syntenic chromosomal regions. Within each syntenic cluster, the gene sequences and organization were similar, suggesting each cluster pair arose from a common ancestor and was retained because of conserved functions. Preliminary analysis indicates that at least 26 of the predicted genes are transcribed. These results demonstrate the value of a genomewide search strategy to identify genes with conserved structural motifs. Discovery of these genes represents a new starting point for exploring the role of β-defensins in innate immunity.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Discovery of five conserved β-defensin gene clusters using a computational search strategy
- Creators
- Brian C Schutte - Department of PediatricsJoseph P Mitros - Department of PediatricsJennifer A Bartlett - Department of PediatricsJesse D Walters - Department of PediatricsHong Peng Jia - Department of PediatricsMichael J Welsh - Department of PediatricsThomas L Casavant - Department of PediatricsPaul B McCray - Department of Pediatrics
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS, Vol.99(4), pp.2129-2133
- DOI
- 10.1073/pnas.042692699
- PMID
- 11854508
- PMCID
- PMC122330
- NLM abbreviation
- Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
- ISSN
- 0027-8424
- eISSN
- 1091-6490
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 02/19/2002
- Academic Unit
- Roy J. Carver Department of Biomedical Engineering; Neurology; Electrical and Computer Engineering; Molecular Physiology and Biophysics; Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Occupational Medicine; Microbiology and Immunology; Pulmonary Medicine; Stead Family Department of Pediatrics; Neurosurgery; Internal Medicine
- Record Identifier
- 9984020784802771
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