中国生物工程杂志

Defensin is a kind of polypeptide that has specific immunity against bacteria, fungi, virus and other pathogenic microorganisms. It possesses specific characters, such as heat- durability, broad - spectrum antibiotic and special antimicrobial activity. With the further research progress on defensin, it will have a tremendous impact on medicine field and play an important role on plant genetic engineering and variety improvement of plant. So far, defensin had been transformed to varieties of plants and expressed in this plants.It makes an important action on plant genetic engineering against pest and disease. In this article we briefly review the classification of different defensin, their specific immunity against bacteria,their biological functions and progress in plant genetic engineering.In the end we make the forecast to its prospect of application.