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Immunology

Peptide gets in shape for self-defence

Nature volume 469, pages 309–310 (2011)Cite this article

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The transformation of tadpole to frog and of caterpillar to butterfly are two of the more obvious examples of metamorphosis. But molecular shape-shifting may occur in each of us as part of our innate antibacterial defence system. See Letter p.419

Among the immune mediators that fight microorganisms within us, one is human β-defensin 1 (hBD-1). This peptide, which was first described1 in 1995, is continually expressed in skin and epithelial cells throughout the body2. But because its direct antibacterial properties are modest, the reason it stands guard at interfaces between microbe-laden environments — such as the colon or skin — and their adjacent, normally sterile tissues has remained enigmatic. On page 419 of this issue, Schroeder et al.3 show that the mild antibacterial activity of hBD-1 changes drastically after it undergoes a chemically induced change in shape.

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Figure 1: Computer-generated structures of human β-defensin 1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Robert I. Lehrer is in the Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90045, USA. rlehrer@mednet.ucla.edu,

    Robert I. Lehrer

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  1. Robert I. Lehrer
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Lehrer, R. Peptide gets in shape for self-defence. Nature 469, 309–310 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/469309a

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