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General description of the gene and the encoded protein(s) using information from HGNC and Ensembl, as well as predictions made by the Human Protein Atlas project.
Gene namei
Official gene symbol, which is typically a short form of the gene name, according to HGNC.
Assigned HPA protein class(es) for the encoded protein(s).
Cancer-related genes
Predicted locationi
All transcripts of all genes have been analyzed regarding the location(s) of corresponding protein based on prediction methods for signal peptides and transmembrane regions.
Genes with at least one transcript predicted to encode a secreted protein, according to prediction methods or to UniProt location data, have been further annotated and classified with the aim to determine if the corresponding protein(s) are secreted or actually retained in intracellular locations or membrane-attached.
Remaining genes, with no transcript predicted to encode a secreted protein, will be assigned the prediction-based location(s).
The annotated location overrules the predicted location, so that a gene encoding a predicted secreted protein that has been annotated as intracellular will have intracellular as the final location.
Gene information from Ensembl and Entrez, as well as links to available gene identifiers are displayed here. Information was retrieved from Ensembl if not indicated otherwise.
Chromosome
8
Cytoband
p23.1
Chromosome location (bp)
7015869 - 7018297
Number of transcriptsi
Number of protein-coding transcripts from the gene as defined by Ensembl.
Useful information about the protein provided by UniProt.
Effector molecule of the innate immune system that acts via antibiotic-like properties against a broad array of infectious agents including bacteria, fungi, and viruses 1,2,3. Possesses the ability to neutralize bacterial toxins such as B. anthracis lethal factor, Clostridium difficile cytotoxin B as well as leukocidin produced by Staphylococcus aureus 4,5,6. Blocks also herpes simplex virus infection by interacting with envelope glycoprotein B and thus preventing its binding to heparan sulfate, the receptor for attachment 7....show less
Molecular function (UniProt)i
Keywords assigned by UniProt to proteins due to their particular molecular function.
Antibiotic, Antimicrobial, Defensin, Fungicide
Biological process (UniProt)i
Keywords assigned by UniProt to proteins because they are involved in a particular biological process.
Antiviral defense
Gene summary (Entrez)i
Useful information about the gene from Entrez
Defensins are a family of antimicrobial and cytotoxic peptides thought to be involved in host defense. They are abundant in 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 sequence and distinguished by a conserved cysteine motif. The protein encoded by this gene, defensin, alpha 3, is found in the microbicidal granules of neutrophils and likely plays a role in phagocyte-mediated host defense. Several alpha defensin genes are clustered on chromosome 8. This gene differs from defensin, alpha 1 by only one amino acid. This gene and the gene encoding defensin, alpha 1 are both subject to copy number variation. [provided by RefSeq, Oct 2014]...show less
PROTEIN INFORMATIONi
The protein information section displays alternative protein-coding transcripts (splice variants) encoded by this gene according to the Ensembl database.
The Splice variant identifier links to the Ensembl website protein summary for the selected splice variant. The data in the Swissprot and TrEMBL columns links to corresponding pages in the UniProt database.
The protein classes assigned to this protein are shown if expanding the data in the protein class column. Parent protein classes are in bold font and subclasses are listed under the parent class.
The length of the protein (amino acid residues according to Ensembl), molecular mass (kDalton), predicted signal peptide and number of predicted transmembrane region(s) according to in-house majority decision methods based on sets of predictors are also reported.
Predicted secreted proteins Secreted proteins predicted by MDSEC SignalP predicted secreted proteins Phobius predicted secreted proteins SPOCTOPUS predicted secreted proteins DeepTMHMM predicted secreted proteins DeepSig predicted secreted proteins Cancer-related genes Candidate cancer biomarkers Mapped to neXtProt neXtProt - Evidence at protein level Protein evidence (Kim et al 2014) Protein evidence (Ezkurdia et al 2014)
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GO:0002227[innate immune response in mucosa] GO:0003674[molecular_function] GO:0005576[extracellular region] GO:0005615[extracellular space] GO:0005796[Golgi lumen] GO:0006952[defense response] GO:0019731[antibacterial humoral response] GO:0030520[intracellular estrogen receptor signaling pathway] GO:0031640[killing of cells of another organism] GO:0035578[azurophil granule lumen] GO:0042742[defense response to bacterium] GO:0042803[protein homodimerization activity] GO:0050829[defense response to Gram-negative bacterium] GO:0050830[defense response to Gram-positive bacterium] GO:0050832[defense response to fungus] GO:0051607[defense response to virus] GO:0061844[antimicrobial humoral immune response mediated by antimicrobial peptide] GO:0070062[extracellular exosome] GO:0071222[cellular response to lipopolysaccharide]