title: Differential expression of rat beta-defensins.
abstract: The innate immunity, utilizes a battery of broad-spectrum antibacterial cationic polypeptides (3-5 kDa) named alpha- and beta-defensins. Several beta-defensins have been isolated and shown to play a role in the defense of various tissues. Herein, we report the expression pattern of two rat beta-defensins, rBD-1 and rBD-2, in liver, kidney, lung, spleen, and brain using RT-PCR. To study polymorphism and verify gene identity, all cDNA products were sequenced. rBD-1 was expressed in the kidney, lung, brain, but not in spleen or liver, whereas rBD-2 was expressed in the lung, but not in the kidney or spleen. In addition, rBD-2 was expressed in the brain and liver. No polymorphism was found in the genes encoding rat beta-defensins. These findings demonstrate a different expression pattern for rBD-2 than what has been reported. We conclude that the rat may be a useful model to investigate the function and contribution of beta-defensins to host defense.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biochemistry, Food Science and Nutrition, Faculty of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Quality, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel. froy@agi.huji.ac.il
authors.forename: Oren
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Froy
authors.forename: Amit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hananel
authors.forename: Nava
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Chapnik
authors.forename: Zecharia
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Madar
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017931:DNA Primers; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D007113:Immunity, Innate / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013047:Specific Pathogen-Free Organisms; D023083:beta-Defensins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: C406407:DEFB1 protein, human; C106641:DEFB4A protein, human; D017931:DNA Primers; D023083:beta-Defensins