title: [Biological characteristics of defensin and its disease-resistance genetic engineering].
abstract: Defensin is a kind of cysteine-rich small peptide, which has a broad spectrum of resistance to bacteria with a special resistance mechanism. So far, a large number of studies on defensins have been reported, and the different types of defensins have been isolated from various organisms. A broad prospect of application on defensins has been displayed both in genetic engineering and medicine field. This article reviewed the classification and the biological characteristics of defensins, including mammalian α-, β-, θ-defensins, insect defensins, and plant defensins. The molecular structures, antibacterial activities, and antibacterial mechanisms of these definsins were summarized. The two mechanisms of de-fensin, including independent membrane mechanism and targeting of intracellular compounds by defensins, are ex-pounded. This paper also summarized the researches on isolation and expression of defensin genes and disease resistance genetic engineering of mammal and plant defensins. A prospect of the future applications of defensin both in biophar-maceutical sciences and plant disease resistance genetic engineering was discussed.
authors.affiliation: 1. The State Key Laboratory for Agro-biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China. fulanbao@163.com
authors.forename: Lan-Bao
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Jia-Lin
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Wei-Hua
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D023082:Defensins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005818:Genetic Engineering; D007113:Immunity, Innate / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data
chemical_list: D023082:Defensins