1. Thioester-containing proteins regulate the Toll pathway and play a role in Drosophila defence against microbial pathogens and parasitoid wasps
- Author
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Samuel Rommelaere, Bruno Lemaitre, Anna Dostalova, Mickael Poidevin, Centre d'Immunologie de Marseille - Luminy (CIML), Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Intégrité du génome et de la polarité cellulaire chez la bactérie (EQYY), Département Biologie des Génomes (DBG), Institut de Biologie Intégrative de la Cellule (I2BC), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Biologie Intégrative de la Cellule (I2BC), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), and Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Physiology ,DBG ,media_common.quotation_subject ,[SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio] ,Mutant ,Complement ,Plant Science ,Insect ,Biology ,Gram-Positive Bacteria ,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology ,03 medical and health sciences ,Immune system ,Phagocytosis ,Loss of Function Mutation ,Structural Biology ,Immunity ,Botany ,Animals ,Drosophila Proteins ,Beauveria ,Drosophila ,lcsh:QH301-705.5 ,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics ,media_common ,Serine protease ,Innate immunity ,Innate immune system ,fungi ,EQYY ,Entomopathogenic fungus ,Cell Biology ,biology.organism_classification ,Hymenoptera ,Immunity, Innate ,Cell biology ,Drosophila melanogaster ,030104 developmental biology ,Parasitoid wasp ,lcsh:Biology (General) ,biology.protein ,General Agricultural and Biological Sciences ,Function (biology) ,Research Article ,Developmental Biology ,Biotechnology - Abstract
Background Members of the thioester-containing protein (TEP) family contribute to host defence in both insects and mammals. However, their role in the immune response of Drosophila is elusive. In this study, we address the role of TEPs in Drosophila immunity by generating a mutant fly line, referred to as TEPq Δ, lacking the four immune-inducible TEPs, TEP1, 2, 3 and 4. Results Survival analyses with TEPq Δ flies reveal the importance of these proteins in defence against entomopathogenic fungi, Gram-positive bacteria and parasitoid wasps. Our results confirm that TEPs are required for efficient phagocytosis of bacteria, notably for the two Gram-positive species tested, Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecalis. Furthermore, we show that TEPq Δ flies have reduced Toll pathway activation upon microbial infection, resulting in lower expression of antimicrobial peptide genes. Epistatic analyses suggest that TEPs function upstream or independently of the serine protease ModSP at an initial stage of Toll pathway activation. Conclusions Collectively, our study brings new insights into the role of TEPs in insect immunity. It reveals that TEPs participate in both humoral and cellular arms of immune response in Drosophila. In particular, it shows the importance of TEPs in defence against Gram-positive bacteria and entomopathogenic fungi, notably by promoting Toll pathway activation. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12915-017-0408-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
- Published
- 2017