The "Vampirome": Transcriptome and proteome analysis of the principal and accessory submaxillary glands of the vampire bat Desmodus rotundus, a vector of human rabies.
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The abundant CC chemokine of the D. rotundus submaxillary gland is CCL28, detected at both transcript and protein level and highly homologous to human CCL28. This is the study whose EMBL submission (JAA45050.1, salivary gland) underlies the K9IFY6 accession.
"In our analysis, bat salivary CCL28 was found to be abundant at the transcriptional (Table 4) and proteome (Figure 2A) levels."
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CCL28 signals through CCR10 and CCR3 and is selectively expressed in mucosal tissues and exocrine glands, which is consistent with its abundance in a salivary gland.
"CCL28 is a chemokine signaling via CCR10 and CCR3 that is selectively expressed in certain mucosal tissues such as exocrine glands, trachea, and colon."
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The defining immunological role of CCL28 is chemoattraction of IgA-producing plasma cells into the mucosal lamina propria.
"CCL28 is particularly abundant in SGs and plays an important role in mucosal immunity as a chemoattractant for IgA-producing plasma cells into the mucosal lamina propria"
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Independently of receptor signalling, human CCL28 has direct broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity against Candida albicans and both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, attributed to a histatin-5-like basic C-terminus. The authors propose the same role for the bat salivary protein. This is a hypothesis for D. rotundus, not a measurement.
"More recently, it has been shown that CCL28 had a potent antimicrobial activity against Candida albicans, Gram-negative bacteria, and Gram-positive bacteria."