SEQUENCE AND SPECIFICITY OF 2 ANTI-BACTERIAL PROTEINS INVOLVED IN INSECT IMMUNITY
SEQUENCE AND SPECIFICITY OF 2 ANTI-BACTERIAL PROTEINS INVOLVED IN INSECT IMMUNITY
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DOI：
10.1038/292246a0
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发表时间：
1981-01-01
期刊：
影响因子：
64.8
通讯作者：
BOMAN, HG
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
STEINER, H;HULTMARK, D;BOMAN, HG
Immune responses have been described for many different insect species1. However, it is generally acknowledged that insects lack lymphocytes and immunoglobulins and their immune systems must therefore differ from those of vertebrates. An effective humoral immune response has been found in pupae of the cecropia moth,Hyalophora cecropia1. The expression of this multicomponent system requiresde novosynthesis of RNA and proteins2and its broad antibacterial activity is due to at least three independent mechanisms3, the most well known of which is the insect lysozyme4–7. However, this enzyme is bactericidal for only a limited number of Gram-positive bacteria. We recently purified and characterized P9 A and P9B, which are two small, basic proteins with potent antibacteral activity againstEscherichia coliand several other Gram-negative bacteria7. We believe that P9A and P9B play an important part in the humoral immune responses described previously8and that the P9 proteins represent a new class of antibacterial agents for which we propose the name cecropins. We describe here the primary structures of cecropins A and B. We also show that cecropin A is specific for bacteria in contrast to melittin, the main lytic component in bee venom9which lyses both bacteria and eukaryotic cells.
