The Aedes aegypti Toll Pathway Controls Dengue Virus Infection

PLoS Pathogens

Jose L. Ramirez¹  Zhiyong Xi¹  George Dimopoulos¹ 

[1] W. Harry Feinstone Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America

关键词: Mosquitoes;    Dengue virus;    Gene regulation;    Drosophila melanogaster;    Blood;    Gene expression;    Pattern recognition receptors;    RNA interference;   

DOI  :  10.1371/journal.ppat.1000098

学科分类：生物科学（综合）

来源: Public Library of Science

【 摘 要 】

Aedes aegypti, the mosquito vector of dengue viruses, utilizes its innate immune system to ward off a variety of pathogens, some of which can cause disease in humans. To date, the features of insects' innate immune defenses against viruses have mainly been studied in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, which appears to utilize different immune pathways against different types of viruses, in addition to an RNA interference–based defense system. We have used the recently released whole-genome sequence of the Ae. aegypti mosquito, in combination with high-throughput gene expression and RNA interference (RNAi)-based reverse genetic analyses, to characterize its response to dengue virus infection in different body compartments. We have further addressed the impact of the mosquito's endogenous microbial flora on virus infection. Our findings indicate a significant role for the Toll pathway in regulating resistance to dengue virus, as indicated by an infection-responsive regulation and functional assessment of several Toll pathway–associated genes. We have also shown that the mosquito's natural microbiota play a role in modulating the dengue virus infection, possibly through basal-level stimulation of the Toll immune pathway.

【 授权许可】

CC BY