Novel cathelicidins in horse leukocytes

FEBS Letters

Zanetti, Margherita¹  Giulotto, Elena²  Scocchi, Marco¹  Bontempo, Daniela¹  Boscolo, Sabrina¹  Tomasinsig, Linda¹ 

[1] Laboratorio Nazionale Consorzio Interuniversitario Biotecnologie, AREA Science Park, Padriciano, I-34012 Trieste, Italy;Dip. Genetica e Microbiologia, University of Pavia, I-27100 Pavia, Italy

关键词: Cathelicidin;    Antimicrobial peptide;    Short interspersed nucleotide element;    Horse;   

DOI  :  10.1016/S0014-5793(99)01097-2

学科分类：生物化学/生物物理

来源: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

【 摘 要 】

Cathelicidins are precursors of defense peptides of the innate immunity and are widespread in mammals. Their structure comprises a conserved prepropiece and an antimicrobial domain that is structurally varied both intra- and inter-species. We investigated the complexity of the cathelicidin family in horse by a reverse transcription-PCR-based cloning strategy of myeloid mRNA and by Southern and Western analyses. Three novel cathelicidin sequences were deduced from bone marrow mRNA and designated equine cathelicidins eCATH-1, eCATH-2 and eCATH-3. Putative antimicrobial domains of 26, 27 and 40 residues with no significant sequence homology to other peptides were inferred at the C-terminus of the sequences. Southern analysis of genomic DNA using a probe based on the cathelicidin-conserved propiece revealed a polymorphic DNA region with several hybridization-positive fragments and suggested the presence of additional genes. A null eCATH-1 allele was also demonstrated with a frequency of 0.71 in the horse population analyzed and low amounts of eCATH-1-specific mRNA were found in myeloid cells of gene-positive animals. A Western analysis using antibodies to synthetic eCATH peptides revealed the presence of eCATH-2 and eCATH-3 propeptides, but not of eCATH-1-related polypeptides, in horse neutrophil granules and in the secretions of phorbol myristate acetate-stimulated neutrophils. These results thus suggest that eCATH-2 and eCATH-3 are functional genes, whereas eCATH-1 is unable to encode a polypeptide.

【 授权许可】

Unknown