Gene Expression and Phylogenetic Relationship of Defensin Genes from Egyptian Sources for Biocontrol

Defensins are subgroup of antimicrobial peptides that play an indespensible role in innate immunity in almost all eukaryotic animal and plant cells ranging from insects to mammals. They represent a wide range of structure and mode of action depending on their source. The main objective of this study is to isolate the defensin gene from various Egyptian sources to study the phylogenetic relationship among these organisms. Defensin genes were isolated from various Egyptian sources including Sitophilus oryzae (rice weevil), Callosobruchus chinensis, Bos Taurus (Egyptian and Friesian), Homo sapiens (human blood cells). Using PCR technology, various amplicons were amplified from the different organisms. An amplicon of 150 bp was amplified and isolated from Sitophilus oryzae, Callosobruchus chinensis. Amplicon of 429 bp was amplified from Egyptiam cows and three amplicons of 1650 bp, 1300 bp, and 429 bp were amplified from Friesian cows. Three amplicons of 800 bp, 215 bp, and 179 bp were amplified using primer hBD-1, two amplicons of 1000 and 179 bp were amplified using primer hBD-2. Sequences obtained from the amplified amplicons were used to construct a phylogenetic tree among the used organisms. The results confirm that defensins from Egyptian sources are highly diversed within the same species as well as among different species