title: Nematode-derived drosomycin-type antifungal peptides provide evidence for plant-to-ecdysozoan horizontal transfer of a disease resistance gene.
abstract: Drosomycin-type antifungal peptides (DTAFPs) are key innate immunity components of Drosophila and plants and confer resistance to fungal infection. Here we report the discovery of a multigene family of DTAFPs, comprising of 15 members (termed cremycin-1 to crymycin-15), in the fruit nematode Caenorhabditis remanei. Cremycins share highly similar amino-acid sequences and identical precursor organization to drosomycins. Of the 15 cremycin genes, 10 are found to be transcriptionally active and 6 are upregulated after fungal challenge. Synthetic cremycin-5 is active on filamentous fungi and a series of clinical isolates of human pathogenic yeasts and exhibits low haemolysis and high serum stability. The specific distribution of DTAFPs in a clade of moulting animals (Ecdysozoa), including Arthropoda, Nematoda and Tardigrada, together with the widespread presence in plants but the absence in fungi and protozoans, provides evidence for horizontal transfer of a disease resistance gene between plants and ecdysozoans.
authors.affiliation: Group of Animal Innate Immunity, State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1 Beichen West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China.
authors.forename: Shunyi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Group of Animal Innate Immunity, State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1 Beichen West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gao
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002107:Caenorhabditis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D060467:Disease Resistance / Q000235:genetics*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D018014:Gene Transfer Techniques; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010944:Plants / Q000235:genetics*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D029721:Drosophila Proteins; C091227:DRS protein, Drosophila