No evidence of expression of two classes of natural antibiotics (cathelicidins and defensins) in a sample of platypus milk Whittington, Camilla M., Sharp, Julie A., Papenfuss, Anthony and Belov, Katherine 2009, No evidence of expression of two classes of natural antibiotics (cathelicidins and defensins) in a sample of platypus milk, Australian journal of zoology, vol. 57, no. 4, pp. 211-217, doi: 10.1071/ZO09047. Attached Files Name Description MIMEType Size Downloads Title No evidence of expression of two classes of natural antibiotics (cathelicidins and defensins) in a sample of platypus milk Author(s) Whittington, Camilla M. Sharp, Julie A. orcid.org/0000-0002-4481-5223 Papenfuss, Anthony Belov, Katherine Journal name Australian journal of zoology Volume number 57 Issue number 4 Start page 211 End page 217 Total pages 7 Publisher CSIRO Publishing Place of publication Melbourne, Vic. Publication date 2009 ISSN 0004-959X 1446-5698 Keyword(s) Metatheria Monotremata Ornithorhynchus anatinus Monotreme lactation antimicrobial peptide Summary Marsupial neonates are born without a fully functioning immune system, and are known to be protected in part by natural antimicrobial peptides present in their mother's milk. Monotreme neonates hatch at a similar stage in development, and it has been hypothesised that their survival in a non-sterile burrow also relies on the presence of natural antibiotics in their mother's milk. Here we review the field of monotreme lactation and the antimicrobial peptide complement of the platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus). Using reverse transcriptasepolymerase chain reaction of milk cell RNA from a sample of platypus milk, we found no evidence for the expression of cathelicidins or defensins in the milk. This was unexpected. We hypothesise that these natural antibiotics may instead be produced by the young platypuses themselves. Language eng DOI 10.1071/ZO09047 Field of Research 060409 Molecular Evolution Socio Economic Objective 970106 Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences HERDC Research category C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal HERDC collection year 2009 Copyright notice ©2009, CSIRO Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30029287 Document type: Journal Article Collections: Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment Centre for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Sciences (BioDeakin) Related Links Link Description Connect to published version (restricted access) Go to link with your DU access privileges     Unless expressly stated otherwise, the copyright for items in DRO is owned by the author, with all rights reserved. Versions Version Filter Type Mon, 14 Jun 2010, 13:17:35 EST Mon, 14 Jun 2010, 13:19:07 EST Mon, 14 Jun 2010, 14:09:39 EST Mon, 14 Jun 2010, 14:28:06 EST Mon, 14 Jun 2010, 14:29:16 EST Fri, 25 Jun 2010, 12:54:45 EST Fri, 25 Jun 2010, 15:10:29 EST Fri, 25 Jun 2010, 15:15:32 EST Fri, 25 Jun 2010, 15:26:27 EST Mon, 28 Jun 2010, 15:24:48 EST Mon, 28 Jun 2010, 15:47:05 EST Tue, 29 Jun 2010, 10:34:53 EST Tue, 20 Sep 2011, 12:19:12 EST Mon, 16 Jun 2014, 16:02:53 EST Filtered Full Citation counts:   Cited 5 times in TR Web of Science Cited 4 times in Scopus Search Google Scholar Access Statistics: 877 Abstract Views, 9 File Downloads  -  Detailed Statistics Created: Mon, 14 Jun 2010, 13:17:30 EST by Sandra Dunoon