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Evidence for myxobacterial origin of eukaryotic defensins

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Abstract

Antimicrobial defensins with the cysteine-stabilized α-helical and β-sheet (CSαβ) motif are a large family of ancient, evolutionarily related innate immunity effectors of multicellular organisms. Although the widespread distribution in plants, fungi, and invertebrates suggests their uniqueness to Eukarya, it is unknown whether these eukaryotic defensins originated before or posterior to the emergence of eukaryotes. In this study, we provide evidence in support of the existence of defensin-like peptides (DLPs) in myxobacteria based on structural bioinformatics analysis, which recognized two bacterial peptides with a conserved cysteine-stabilized α-helical motif, a nested structural unit of the CSαβ motif. Similarity in sequence and structure to fungal DLPs together with restricted distribution to the myxobacteria as well as central role of the myxobacteria in the origin of eukaryotes suggest that the bacterial DLPs represent the ancestor of the eukaryotic defensins and could mediate immune defense of early eukaryotes after gene transfer to the proto-eukaryotic genome. Our work thus offers a basis for further investigation of prokaryotic origin of eukaryotic immune effector molecules.

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Acknowledgments

I am grateful to Dr. Purificación López-García for his critical reading of the manuscript. This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (90608009) and the ‘Bairen Plan’ from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Group of Animal Innate Immunity, State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, People’s Republic of China

    Shunyi Zhu

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  1. Shunyi Zhu
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Correspondence to Shunyi Zhu.

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Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material. Supplementary data are available at Immunogenetics online.

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Zhu, S. Evidence for myxobacterial origin of eukaryotic defensins. Immunogenetics 59, 949–954 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00251-007-0259-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00251-007-0259-x

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