Histatins: Saliva proteins with important functions for our innate immune system

This study focuses on Histatins, a family of saliva proteins that act as a first line of defence of our innate immune system and possess antiviral/antimicrobial/antifungal properties. Of specific interest are Histatin 1 (Hst1), Histatin 3 (Hst3), and Histatin 5 (Hst5), which contain 38, 32, and 24 amino acids, respectively, of which the 22 first amino acids in the primary sequence are identical. This study aims to understand why Hst5 has a greater killing efficacy for fungi and microbes and less for Influenza Virus A, while the opposite relationship prevails for Hst1 and Hst3. We will learn about the distribution of oligomers/complexes, their structure, size, and shape, and the intra-complex/oligomers' distances. We aim to understand what differs in the interaction between Hst1/Hst3/Hst5 and how their structure relates to their function. Computer simulations will give us atomistic insight, which is impossible through experiments.