title: Differential expression of caprine beta-defensins in digestive and respiratory tissues.
abstract: We identified two novel beta-defensin precursors, preproGBD-1 and preproGBD-2, in the tissues of a goat. Although the precursors were identical in 96.8% of their bases and 88.2% (60 of 68) of their amino acids, preproGBD-1 was expressed principally in the tongue and respiratory tract, whereas preproGBD-2 expression predominated throughout the intestine. These findings exemplify the phenomenon of tissue-specific expression in a family of host defense peptides that arose before the avian and mammalian lineages diverged.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Shamova
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Brogden
authors.forename: R I
authors.initials: RI
authors.lastname: Lehrer
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D023082:Defensins; D004064:Digestive System / Q000276:immunology*; D006041:Goats; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009928:Organ Specificity; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D012137:Respiratory System / Q000276:immunology*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D023082:Defensins; D011506:Proteins