TY - JOUR AU - Hall, T. J. AU - McQuillan, C. AU - Finlay, E. K. AU - O’Farrelly, C. AU - Fair, S. AU - Meade, K. G. PY - 2017 DA - 2017/04/04 TI - Comparative genomic identification and validation of β-defensin genes in the Ovis aries genome JO - BMC Genomics SP - 278 VL - 18 IS - 1 AB - β-defensins are small, cationic, antimicrobial peptides found in species across the plant and animal kingdoms. In addition to microbiocidal activity, roles in immunity as well as reproduction have more recently been documented. β-defensin genes in Ovis aries (domestic sheep) have been poorly annotated, having been identified only by automatic gene prediction algorithms. The objective of this study was to use a comparative genomics approach to identify and characterise the β-defensin gene repertoire in sheep using the bovine genome as the primary reference. SN - 1471-2164 UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-017-3666-x DO - 10.1186/s12864-017-3666-x ID - Hall2017 ER -