Tissue specificity and species superiority of cathelicidin gene expression in Chinese indigenous Min pigs

Gene expression and tissue distribution of β-defensins in Chinese Min pigs and Landrace pigs

“…The expression of pBD-1, pBD-2, and pBD-3 was prevalent in the tissues that control the immune system, such as the spleen, thymus, and lymph node. Ma et al (2014) reported that the cathelicidins were generally expressed at high levels in the thymus and the spleen in both pig breeds, which was consistent with the present study. This agreement showed that cathelicidins and β-defensins play important role in these immune organs, which are essential to the maturation of the immune system.…”

“…We found that the mRNA expression levels of the three β-defensins in most tissues were much higher in Min pigs than in Landrace pigs, which was in agreement with our previous results about cathelicidins (Ma et al 2014). Similarly, another two typical indigenous breeds in China, Meishan pigs and Tibetan pigs, exhibited relatively high expression of pBD-1, pBD-2, and pBD-3 compared with crossbred pigs (Qi et al 2009;Chen et al 2010).…”

“…In the present study, mRNA of three β-defensins was diversely expressed in the tissues that require strong mucosal defenses, particularly the tongue, which was consistent with the expression pattern described previously in pigs (Zhang et al 1998;Veldhuizen et al 2007), sheep (Huttner et al 1998), and cattle (Stolzenberg et al 1997). Previously we found that the cathelicidin molecules, the other important antimicrobial peptides family, were generally expressed at low levels in the tongue in both breeds (Ma et al 2014). That means that cathelicidins and β-defensins evolved in different directions.…”

“…The correlation analysis of mRNA expression levels showed that the β-defensin expressions, that were significantly correlated in one breed, had no connection in the other breed. This suggested that, similarly to cathelicidins, β-defensin may be constitutively expressed in some tissues and inducibly expressed in other tissues (Ma et al 2014).…”

“…Native to China, Min pigs have higher immunity, stronger disease resistance and adaptability (Xu 1989). We have previously reported that expression of four cathelicidin genes in most tissues was higher in Min pigs than in Landrace pigs (Ma et al 2014), suggesting that the high expression of antimicrobial peptides might be a contributing factor in which the Min pigs display strong disease resistance. We hypothesized that these characteristics may be related to the greater expression of β-defensins genes.…”