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Science 2 March 2001:
Vol. 291. no. 5509, pp. 1783 - 1785
DOI: 10.1126/science.1056545
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Reports

An Antimicrobial Peptide Gene Found in the Male Reproductive System of Rats

Peng Li,1* Hsiao Chang Chan,2* Bin He,1*dagger Siu Cheung So,2 Yiu Wa Chung,2 Quan Shang,1 You-Duan Zhang,1 Yong-Lian Zhang1ddagger

Little is known about the innate defense mechanisms of the male reproductive tract. We cloned a 385-base pair complementary DNA and its genomic DNA named Bin1b that is exclusively expressed in the caput region of the rat epididymis and that is responsible for sperm maturation, storage, and protection. Bin1b exhibits structural characteristics and antimicrobial activity similar to that of cationic antimicrobial peptides, beta -defensins. Bin1b is maximally expressed when the rats are sexually mature and can be up-regulated by inflammation. Bin1b appears to be a natural epididymis-specific antimicrobial peptide that plays a role in reproductive tract host defense and male fertility.

1 State Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institute for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320, Yue-Yang Road, Shanghai 200031, China.
2 Epithelial Cell Biology Research Center, Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong.
*   These authors contributed equally to this work.

dagger    Present address: Laboratories for Reproductive Biology, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Medical Sciences Research Building, Campus Box 7500, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.

ddagger    To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: yonglz{at}sunm.shcnc.ac.cn

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)