Basic Information

Symbol
DEFA1B
RNA class
mRNA
Alias
Defensin Alpha 1B Neutrophil Defensin 1 HNP-1 HP-1 HP1 Defensin, Alpha 1B Defensin, Alpha 1 DEFA2 DEF1 MRS
Location (GRCh38)
8:6996766-6999202
UCSC Genome Browser Search in Marker Scope
Forensic tag(s)
Tissue/body fluid identification
External database
HGNC NCBI Ensembl UniProt GTEx

MANE select

Transcript ID
NM_001042500.2
Sequence length
494.0 nt
GC content
0.5263

Secondary Structure

Generated by RNAfold
Minimum free energy (MFE) structure:
Secondary structure that contributes a minimum of free energy.
Ensemble properties:
Thermodynamic properties of the Boltzmann ensemble.
Minimum free energy
-158.30 kcal/mol
Thermodynamic ensemble
Free energy: -166.64 kcal/mol
Frequency: 0.0000
Diversity: 196.57
MFE Structure Visualization
Structure Prediction
MFE Structure Prediction
....((((..((((......(((((..(((((((((.((((((((.....((((((....(((......)))....))))))...(((((.((((.....((((....))..)).....)))).))))).(((((((((((((((..(((......)))...))))..)).)))..))))))....)).)))))).))))..((((..(((....))).))))((((......))))........(((((((((((((..(((((.((.(......).))))))).....((((.....(((.((((..((((((....(((....)))...))))))....((((((....)))))))))).)))))))(((((((................))))))).....))))))).)))))).((((((((((...(((....)))......))..)))))))).))))).)))))..........))))..)))).
Thermodynamic Ensemble Prediction
,,,.(((({,,,{{..{,..{((((..(((({{,{{.{|||||||,,},.((((((....(((......)))....)))))).,{(({,{((((,...,.{{,...,.,|{{|(({......)))))))...|||))}||,|||{|{((..{{,..|||...,))},,|||||,.}}}|}}}|}..|}{|||||},||}|{((,..,,(((,,(({{{,{{{{((((,,,{,.}|}|{|..,|||{(((({{{{{{{{..{((((,((.(......).))))))|,....||||.....||{,||{|..||||||.,,.||{,,,,,)),..}))))}....((((((....)))))))))}})))))}){|{||{{},,,.....,..,..|||||}||,,...}}})))),|||}|(((((({({....,,}.,,)))))).}}}..))}}},}}),)}.))))),))}},.........,}}}},.)}}}.

Transcripts

ID Sequence Length GC content
NM_001042500.2 NCBI
GCUCCUUGCUAUAGAAGACCUGGGACAGAGGACUGCUGUCUGCCCUCUC… 494 nt 0.5263
NM_001302265.2 NCBI
GCUCCUUGCUAUAGAAGACCUGGGACAGAGGACUGCUGUCUGCCCUCUC… 538 nt 0.5204
Summary

Defensins are a family of antimicrobial and cytotoxic peptides thought to be involved in host defense. They are abundant in the granules of neutrophils and also found in the epithelia of mucosal surfaces such as those of the intestine, respiratory tract, urinary tract, and vagina. Members of the defensin family are highly similar in protein sequence and distinguished by a conserved cysteine motif. The protein encoded by this gene, defensin, alpha 1, is found in the microbicidal granules of neutrophils and likely plays a role in phagocyte-mediated host defense. Several alpha defensin genes are clustered on chromosome 8. This gene differs from defensin, alpha 3 by only one amino acid. This gene and the gene encoding defensin, alpha 3 are both subject to copy number variation. Two transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been found for this gene. [provided by RefSeq, Oct 2014]

Forensic Context

A study in humans identified the DEFA1B as a candidate mRNA marker selected from GTEx database screening to represent the DEFA1B, DEFA1, and DEFA3 genes [Lin et al. DOI:10.1016/j.fsigen.2025.103376].