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Drosophila Nimrod proteins bind bacteria

2013; De Gruyter Open; Volume: 8; Issue: 7 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2478/s11535-013-0183-4

2391-5412

János Zsámboki, Gábor Csordás, Viktor Honti, Lajos Pintér, Izabella Bajusz, László Galgóczy, István Andó, Éva Kurucz,

Antimicrobial Peptides and Activities

Abstract Engulfment of foreign particles by phagocytes is initiated by the engagement of phagocytic receptors. We have previously reported that NimC1 is involved in the phagocytosis of bacteria in Drosophila melanogaster. We have identified a family of genes, the Nimrod gene superfamily, encoding characteristic NIM domain containing structural homologues of NimC1. In this work we studied the bacterium-binding properties of the Nimrod proteins by using a novel immunofluorescencebased flow cytometric assay. This method proved to be highly reproducible and suitable for investigations of the bacteriumbinding capacities of putative phagocytosis receptors. We found that NimC1, NimA, NimB1 and NimB2 bind bacteria significantly but differently. In this respect they are similar to other NIM domain containing receptors Eater and Draper.