RESUMEN
The ß-defensins are important components of the vertebrate innate immune system. While mammalian ß-defensins have wide-ranging antibacterial and immunomodulatory activities, those of amphibians remain largely uncharacterised. In this study, ß-defensin cDNA was identified from the skin transcriptome of the Chinese spiny frog Quasipaa spinosa. This ß-defensin (QS-BD) consists of a signal and a mature peptide. Sequence alignments with other amphibian ß-defensins showed conservation of the functional mature peptide and that its closest relative is ß-defensin from Zhangixalus puerensis. Synthetic QS-BD showed antibacterial activity against Vibrio vulnificus, Vibrio harveyi, Streptococcus iniae, and Aeromonas hydrophila. QS-BD showed bactericidal activity by destroying the cell membrane integrity, but did not hydrolyse genomic DNA. QS-BD treatment promoted respiratory bursts and upregulated the expression of interleukin-1ß and tumour necrosis factor-α in the murine leukemic monocyte/macrophage cell line RAW264.7. This is the first demonstration of immunomodulatory activity by an amphibian ß-defensin.