Abstract
Antimicrobial peptides are secreted by small intestinal Paneth cells as components of innate immunity. To investigate the role of alpha-defensins in enteric host defenses in nonhuman primates, alpha-defensin cDNAs were isolated, alpha-defensin peptides were purified from rhesus macaque small bowel, and the bactericidal activities of the peptides were measured. Six rhesus enteric alpha-defensin (RED) cDNAs, RED-1 to RED-6, were identified in a jejunum cDNA library; the deduced RED peptides exhibited extensive diversity relative to the primary structures of rhesus myeloid alpha-defensins. RED-4 was purified from monkey jejunum, and N-terminal peptide sequencing of putative RED-4 peptides identified two N termini, RTCYCRTGR. and TCYCRTGRC.; these corresponded to alternative N termini for the RED-4 molecules, as deduced from their molecular masses and RED cDNAs. In situ hybridization experiments localized RED mRNAs exclusively to small intestinal Paneth cells. Recombinant RED-1 to RED-4 were purified to homogeneity and shown to be microbicidal in the low micromolar range (