Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Constitutive expression of a complement-like protein in Toll and JAK gain-of-function mutants of Drosophila

2000; National Academy of Sciences; Volume: 97; Issue: 21 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1073/pnas.97.21.11427

1091-6490

Marie Lagueux, Emmanuel Perrodou, Elena A. Levashina, Maria Capovilla, Jules A. Hoffmann,

Insect symbiosis and bacterial influences

We show that Drosophila expresses four genes encoding proteins with significant similarities with the thiolester-containing proteins of the complement C3/α 2 -macroglobulin superfamily. The genes are transcribed at a low level during all stages of development, and their expression is markedly up-regulated after an immune challenge. For one of these genes, which is predominantly expressed in the larval fat body, we observe a constitutive expression in gain-of-function mutants of the Janus kinase (JAK) hop and a reduced inducibility in loss-of-function hop mutants. We also observe a constitutive expression in gain-of-function Toll mutants. We discuss the possible roles of these novel complement-like proteins in the Drosophila host defense.