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Expression of defensins in non-infected araneomorph spiders

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Abstract

Defensins are a major family of antimicrobial peptides found throughout the phylogenetic tree. From the spider species: Cupiennius salei, Phoneutria reidyi, Polybetes pythagoricus, Tegenaria atrica, and Meta menardi, defensins belonging to the ‘ancestral’ class of invertebrate defensins were cloned and sequenced. The deduced amino acid sequences contain the characteristic six cysteines of this class of defensins and reveal precursors of 60 or 61 amino acid residues. The mature peptides consist of 37 amino acid residues, showing up to 70% identities with tick and scorpion defensins. In C. salei, defensin mRNA was found to be constitutively expressed in hemocytes, ovaries, subesophageal nerve mass, hepatopancreas, and muscle tissue. This is the first report presenting and comparing antimicrobial peptides belonging to the family of defensins from spiders.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. C. Kropf for kindly providing M. menardi, Prof. Dr. J. Schaller for MS measurements, Dr. D. Destoumieux-Garzón and Dr. H. Murray for critical comments on the manuscript, and the Swiss National Science Foundation for funding.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, Baltzerstrasse 6, 3012, Bern, Switzerland

    Tommy Baumann, Lucia Kuhn-Nentwig & Wolfgang Nentwig

  2. Institute of Clinical Chemistry, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, INO F, 3010, Bern, Switzerland

    Carlo R. Largiadèr

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  1. Tommy Baumann
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Correspondence to Lucia Kuhn-Nentwig.

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18_2010_354_MOESM1_ESM.tif

Fig. S1 Partial C. salei defensin gene structure. PCR products of hemocyte cDNA and genomic DNA with defensin-specific primers. The 50-bp molecular weight marker is marked with MW; band sizes are in bp. (TIFF 4753 kb)

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Baumann, T., Kuhn-Nentwig, L., Largiadèr, C.R. et al. Expression of defensins in non-infected araneomorph spiders. Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 67, 2643–2651 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-010-0354-2

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