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

Defensins are present in many organisms and are divided into two evolutionary groups, termed <i>cis</i>- and <i>trans</i>-defensins. <i>Cis</i>-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 <i>cis</i>-defensins from bacteria and propose five classes for their classification. We also report the first NMR structure determination of a <i>Myxoccocus xanthus</i> 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 <i>Streptomyces coelicolor</i> coculture-grown media. Our results demonstrate a wider distribution of defensins outside the Eukarya domain, shedding light on the origin and distribution of defensins. The sharing of three disulfide defensins between bacteria and eukaryotes points to a possible prokaryotic origin of the CSαβ motif. Moreover, the identification of defensins in Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria indicates an early origin but with many gene losses during the evolutionary process, similar to findings for eukaryotic defensins.

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Journal
ACS Omega
Published
2024-10-11
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.4c06956
Citations
2
Primary Topic
Antimicrobial Peptides and Activities
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.69

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article

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

Camila Guimarães de Freitas, Peta J. Harvey, Pietra O. Rigueiras, Octávio Luiz Franco et al.
2 citations
ACS Omega
Antimicrobial Peptides and Activities
0.69
article

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

Camila Guimarães de Freitas, Peta J. Harvey, Pietra O. Rigueiras, Octávio Luiz Franco, Mariana Rocha Maximiano, Isabel C. M. Fensterseifer, Marlon Henrique e Silva Cardoso, William F. Porto, Lucas Rodrigues de Lima, David J. Craik, Rosiane Andrade da Costa, Ludovico Migliolo, Állan S. Pires
article en
2 citations

Abstract

Defensins are present in many organisms and are divided into two evolutionary groups, termed <i>cis</i>- and <i>trans</i>-defensins. <i>Cis</i>-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 <i>cis</i>-defensins from bacteria and propose five classes for their classification. We also report the first NMR structure determination of a <i>Myxoccocus xanthus</i> 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 <i>Streptomyces coelicolor</i> coculture-grown media. Our results demonstrate a wider distribution of defensins outside the Eukarya domain, shedding light on the origin and distribution of defensins. The sharing of three disulfide defensins between bacteria and eukaryotes points to a possible prokaryotic origin of the CSαβ motif. Moreover, the identification of defensins in Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria indicates an early origin but with many gene losses during the evolutionary process, similar to findings for eukaryotic defensins.

ACS OmegaVol. 9(45)
Australian Research Council (AU), Universidade de Brasília (BR), The University of Queensland (AU), Universidade Católica de Brasília (BR), Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de Brasília (BR), ARC Centre of Excellence for Innovations in Peptide and Protein Science (AU), Universidade Católica Dom Bosco (BR)
Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, Fundação de Apoio à Pesquisa do Distrito Federal, Fundação de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento do Ensino, Ciência e Tecnologia do Estado de Mato Grosso do Sul
Zero hunger
Openalex Percentile: Top 28%
Antimicrobial Peptides and Activities
0.69
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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