Discovery of Five Classes of Bacterial Defensins: Ancestral Precursors of Defensins from Eukarya?

ABSTRACT: Defensins are present in many organisms and are divided into two evolutionary groups, termed cis- and trans-defensins. Cis-defensins have only recently been reported in bacteria, and knowledge of these defensins is limited, with no family classification. Here, we describe the identification of 74 cis-defensins from bacteria and propose five classes for their classification. We also report the first NMR structure determination of a Myxoccocus xanthus defensin, as well as its in silico expression analysis. Xanthusin-1 has a unique structure among the published defensins, which could indicate that the proposed class II peptides constitute a separate group of defensins. Xanthusin-1 gene expression was observed in casitone-based and Streptomyces coelicolor<

SUBMITTER: Cardoso MH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11561630 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature