title: Beta-defensin 1 gene variability among non-human primates.
abstract: Defensins are a recently described family of peptides that play an important role in innate immunity. Recent studies have shown that defensins exhibit a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activities against bacteria and fungi. Three families have been identified so far in mammals, alpha-defensins, beta-defensins and theta-defensins, presumably derived from a common ancestral defensin. A long-term study on the evolution of these multigene families among primates has been undertaken to investigate: (1) the degree of interspecific differentiation; (2) the genetic mechanisms responsible for the variability of these molecules; and (3) the possible role of different environmental factors in their evolution. Nucleotide sequences have been obtained from great and lesser apes, several African and Asian catarrhine monkeys and one New World monkey. A comparison of rates of synonymous and nonsynonymous (amino-acid changing) nucleotide substitution indicates that the primate beta-defensin 1 gene evolved under a pattern of random nucleotide substitution as predicted by the neutral theory of molecular evolution. These results are not consistent with the hypothesis that the primate beta-defensin 1 gene has diversified in response to changes in the microbial species to which a given host is exposed. Analyses of interpecific variability have yielded some insights about the pattern of molecular evolution of the gene among primates. Humans and great apes present high levels of sequence similarity, differing in only one amino acid residue in the mature peptide. Compared with these taxa, hylobatids and cercopithecids exhibit 3-4 amino acid substitutions, some of which increase the net charge of the active molecule.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biologia Animale e dell'Uomo, Università di Torino, Via Accademia Albertina 13/17, 10123 Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: Massimiliano
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Del Pero
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boniotto
authors.forename: Dario
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zuccon
authors.forename: Piero
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cervella
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Spanò
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Amoroso
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Crovella
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001482:Base Composition; D001483:Base Sequence; D014644:Genetic Variation / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011323:Primates / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D023083:beta-Defensins / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: C406407:DEFB1 protein, human; D023083:beta-Defensins