Drosophila eiger Mutants Are Sensitive to Extracellular Pathogens

PLoS Pathogens

Janelle S Ayres¹  Marc S Dionne¹  Eric M Mabery¹  Stephanie M Brandt¹  David S Schneider¹  Mimi M Shirasu-Hiza¹  Alexandre Costa¹  Michael D Gordon¹  Madeleine G Moule¹  Linh N Pham¹ 

[1] Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University, Stanford, California, United States of America

关键词: Bacterial pathogens;    Intracellular pathogens;    Staphylococcus aureus;    Salmonella typhimurium;    Pathogens;    Immune response;    Microbial pathogens;    Burkholderia cepacia complex;   

DOI  :  10.1371/journal.ppat.0030041

学科分类：生物科学（综合）

来源: Public Library of Science

【 摘 要 】

We showed previously that eiger, the Drosophila tumor necrosis factor homolog, contributes to the pathology induced by infection with Salmonella typhimurium. We were curious whether eiger is always detrimental in the context of infection or if it plays a role in fighting some types of microbes. We challenged wild-type and eiger mutant flies with a collection of facultative intracellular and extracellular pathogens, including a fungus and Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The response of eiger mutants divided these microbes into two groups: eiger mutants are immunocompromised with respect to extracellular pathogens but show no change or reduced sensitivity to facultative intracellular pathogens. Hence, eiger helps fight infections but also can cause pathology. We propose that eiger activates the cellular immune response of the fly to aid clearance of extracellular pathogens. Intracellular pathogens, which can already defeat professional phagocytes, are unaffected by eiger.

【 授权许可】

CC BY