Sadaaki Iwanaga and Shun-ichiro Kawabata

Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan

Received 7/13/98 Accepted 8/21/98

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Abstract

2. Introduction

3. Defense molecules

3.1. Defense molecules found in horseshoe crab hemolymph
3.2. Molecular evolution of coagulogen and coagulin
3.3. Molecular evolution of clotting zymogens and serpins
3.4 Molecular phylogeny of big defensin and its derivatives.
3.5. Molecular phylogeny of horseshoe crab transglutaminase (TGase)

4. Conclusion

5. Acknowledgments

6. References
7. Entire manuscript