Evolution of the hepcidin gene in primates.
BACKGROUND
Hepcidin/LEAP-1 is an iron regulatory hormone originally identified as an antimicrobial peptide. As part of a systematic analysis of the evolution of host defense peptides in primates, we have sequenced the orthologous gene from 14 species of non-human primates.


RESULTS
The sequence of the mature peptide is highly conserved amongst all the analyzed species, being identical to the human one in great apes and gibbons, with a single residue conservative variation in Old-World monkeys and with few substitutions in New-World monkeys.


CONCLUSIONS
Our analysis indicates that hepcidin's role as a regulatory hormone, which involves interaction with a conserved receptor (ferroportin), may result in conservation over most of its sequence, with the exception of the stretch between residues 15 and 18, which in New-World monkeys (as well as in other mammals) shows a significant variation, possibly indicating that this structural region is involved in other functions.
Segat
Ludovica
L
Genetic Unit, IRCCS Burlo Garofolo and Department of Reproductive and Developmental Sciences, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy. segat@burlo.trieste.it
Pontillo
Alessandra
A
Milanese
Michele
M
Tossi
Alessandro
A
Crovella
Sergio
S
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000663:Amphibians; D000818:Animals; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D002520:Cercopithecidae / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D014644:Genetic Variation; D064451:Hepcidins; D006801:Humans; D016674:Hylobatidae / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D011323:Primates / Q000235:genetics*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D013045:Species Specificity
D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides; C578702:HAMP protein, human; D064451:Hepcidins