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| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Artículo científico |
| Language: | en |
| Published: |
Fish & shellfish immunology
2026
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41192676/ |
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Table of Contents:
- Pengonadins: A penaeid shrimp-specific antimicrobial peptide family related to anti-lipopolysaccharide factors. Matos, Gabriel Machado Hervé, Cássio Barcellos Argenta, Nicolas Guzmán, Fanny Schmitt, Paulina Rosa, Rafael Diego Animals Penaeidae Antimicrobial Peptides Arthropod Proteins Amino Acid Sequence Phylogeny Immunity, Innate Lipopolysaccharides Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides Female Gene Expression Profiling Sequence Alignment Anti-lipopolysaccharide factors (ALFs) are antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) defined by a central β-hairpin stabilized by two cysteine residues. Recently, ALF-related molecules containing three or four cysteine residues were identified in penaeid shrimp, but their characterization remained unexplored. Here, we describe these molecules as pengonadins, based on their taxonomic restriction, molecular features, and predominant expression in gonads. Comprehensive mining of sequence databases revealed that pengonadins are exclusive to penaeid shrimp and form a distinct AMP family, separated from canonical ALFs and classified into two Types (I and II). Transcriptomic analyses that pengonadins are expressed in gonads, dynamic expression during ovarian maturation, a role in reproductive immunity. Genomic analyses revealed up to six tandemly duplicated pengonadin genes per species, with conserved chromosomal organization across penaeids. Their genomic distribution and synteny analyses indicate that pengonadins originated from an ancestral ALF gene and diversified prior to penaeid shrimp speciation. Functionally, a synthetic peptide based on a Type II pengonadin from the Pacific white shrimp Penaeus vannamei exhibited antifungal activity, suggesting specialized roles beyond antibacterial defense. Together, our findings identified pengonadins as a novel family of penaeid AMPs with unique molecular features, reproductive tissue-biased expression, and a likely origin via gene duplication and diversification from an ALF ancestor.