McGettigan, J., McLennan, R. K. J., Broderick, K. E., Kean, L., Allan, A. K., Cabrero, P., Regulski, M. R., Pollock, V. P., Gould, G. W., Davies, S. A., Dow, J. A. T. (July 2005) Insect renal tubules constitute a cell-autonomous immune system that protects the organism against bacterial infection. Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 35 (7). pp. 741-754. ISSN 0965-1748
Abstract
Innate immunity is a widespread and important defence against microbial attack, which in insects is thought to originate mainly in the fat body. Here we demonstrate that the fluid-transporting Malpighian (renal) tubule of Drosophila melanogaster constitutes an autonomous immune-sensing tissue utilising the nitric oxide (NO) signalling pathway. Reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) shows that tubules express those genes encoding components of the Imd pathway. Furthermore, isolated tubules bind and respond to lipopolysaccharide (LPS), by upregulating anti-microbial peptide (diptericin) gene expression and increased bacterial killing. Excised, LPS-challenged tubules, as well as tubules from LPS-infected flies, display increased NO synthase (NOS) activity upon immune challenge. Targetted expression of a Drosophila NOS (dNOS) transgene to only principal cells of the tubule main segment using the GAL4/UAS system increases diptericin expression. In live flies, such targetted over-expression of dNOS to tubule principal cells confers increased survival of the whole animal upon E. coli challenge. Thus, we describe a novel role of Malpighian tubules in immune sensing and insect survival. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
| Item Type: | Paper |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Drosophila nitric oxide diptericin NO survival nitric oxide drosophila epitheilal function signaling pathway peptide peptidoglycan gene expression |
| Subjects: | diseases & disorders > Bacterial Infections |
| CSHL Authors: | |
| Depositing User: | CSHL Librarian |
| Date: | July 2005 |
| Date Deposited: | 09 Jan 2012 16:05 |
| Last Modified: | 09 Jan 2012 16:05 |
| URI: | https://repository.cshl.edu/id/eprint/22651 |
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