{PDOC00242}
{PS00269; DEFENSIN}
{BEGIN}
*********************************
* Mammalian defensins signature *
*********************************

Defensins [1   to   5],  also  known  as  alpha-defensins,  are  a  family  of
structurally related  cysteine-rich peptides active against many Gram-negative
and Gram-positive bacteria, fungi, and enveloped  viruses.  Some defensins are
also called corticostatins (CS) because they inhibit  corticotropin-stimulated
corticosteroid production.  Defensins kills cells by forming voltage-regulated
multimeric channels   in   the   susceptible  cell's  membrane.  They  play  a
significant role in innate immunity  to  infection and neoplasia. The peptides
known to belong to this family are listed below.

 - Rabbit defensins and  corticostatins:  CS-I (NP-3A),  CS-II (NP-3B), CS-III
   (MCP-1), CS-IV (MCP-2), NP-4, and NP-5.
 - Guinea-pig neutrophil defensin (GPNP).
 - Human neutrophil defensins 1 to 4 and intestinal defensins 5 and 6.
 - Mouse small bowel cryptdins 1 to 5.
 - Rat NP-1 to NP-4.

All these peptides range in length from 29 to 35 amino acids.  There are seven
invariant  residues,  including   six  cysteines  all  involved  in intrachain
disulfide bonds.     A schematic  representation of peptides from the defensin
family is shown below.

                  +----------------------------+
                  |****************************|
                xxCxCxxxxxCxxxxxxxGxCxxxxxxxxxCCxx
                    |     |         |         |
                    +-----|---------+         |
                          +-------------------+

'C': conserved cysteine involved in a disulfide bond.
'*': position of the pattern.

Our pattern is based on the conserved residues.

-Consensus pattern: C-x-C-x(3,5)-C-x(7)-G-x-C-x(9)-C-C
                    [The 6 C's are involved in disulfide bonds]
-Sequences known to belong to this class detected by the pattern: ALL,  except
 for mouse cryptdin 4.
-Other sequence(s) detected in Swiss-Prot: 1.

-Last update: May 2004 / Text revised.

[ 1] Lehrer R.I., Ganz T., Selsted M.E.
     ASM News 56:315-318(1990).
[ 2] Lehrer R.I., Ganz T., Selsted M.E.
     "Defensins: endogenous antibiotic peptides of animal cells."
     Cell 64:229-230(1991).
     PubMed=1988144
[ 3] Kagan B.L., Ganz T., Lehrer R.I.
     "Defensins: a family of antimicrobial and cytotoxic peptides."
     Toxicology 87:131-149(1994).
     PubMed=7512758
[ 4] Lehrer R.I., Lichtenstein A.K., Ganz T.
     "Defensins: antimicrobial and cytotoxic peptides of mammalian cells."
     Annu. Rev. Immunol. 11:105-128(1993).
     PubMed=8476558; DOI=10.1146/annurev.iy.11.040193.000541
[ 5] White S.H., Wimley W.C., Selsted M.E.
     "Structure, function, and membrane integration of defensins."
     Curr. Opin. Struct. Biol. 5:521-527(1995).
     PubMed=8528769

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PROSITE is copyrighted by the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics and
distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
(CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) License, see https://prosite.expasy.org/prosite_license.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

{END}