alpha-Defensin 1 Products

Defensins are a family of microbicidal and cytotoxic peptides thought to be involved in host defense. They are abundantin the granules of neutrophils and also found in the epithelia of mucosal surfaces such as those of the intestine,respiratory tract, urinary tract, and vagina. Members of the defensin family are highly similar in protein sequenceand distinguished by a conserved cysteine motif. Several alpha defensin genes appear to be clustered on chromosome 8.The protein encoded by this gene, defensin, alpha 1, is found in the microbicidal granules of neutrophils and likelyplays a role in phagocyte-mediated host defense. It differs from defensin, alpha 3 by only one amino acid. (providedby RefSeq)