{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,19]],"date-time":"2026-07-19T04:17:18Z","timestamp":1784434638642,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,6]],"date-time":"2025-02-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1738800000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Immunol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title><jats:p>In mammals, Paneth cells, located in the crypts of the small intestine, produceantimicrobial peptides that serve to keep the intestinal microbiome under control. a-Defensins are the primary antimicrobial peptides produced by these cells.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>We used 148 publicly available bulk RNA-seq samples on purified PCs, proteomics on enriched purified PC proteins and <jats:italic>Defa<\/jats:italic> peptide activity assays to detect all <jats:italic>Defa<\/jats:italic> transcrips, including potential chimeric transcrips.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>We identified 28 expressed <jats:italic>Defa<\/jats:italic> genes in mice, with up to 85% of Paneth cell RNA reads mapping to these genes. Chimeric mRNAs, involving sequences from two different <jats:italic>Defa<\/jats:italic> genes, were detected in most experiments. Despite their low abundance (less than 0.3%), mass spectrometry confirmed the presence of chimeric peptides. Synthetic versions of these peptides demonstrated antibacterial activity against multiple bacterial species.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>We show the existence of chimeric <jats:italic>Defa<\/jats:italic> transcripts and peptides in mice that are biologically active. We propose a possible stochatic mechanism or that the activation of the UPR patway may play a role in their production<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fimmu.2025.1543059","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,6]],"date-time":"2025-02-06T08:54:25Z","timestamp":1738832065000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Detection of chimeric alpha-defensin transcripts and peptides in mouse Paneth cells"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Steven","family":"Timmermans","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Charlotte","family":"Wallaeys","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Somara","family":"De 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