drosophila eiger mutants are sensitive to extracellular pathogens果蝇艾格尔峰突变体对细胞外敏感病原体.pdfVIP

Drosophila eiger Mutants Are Sensitive to Extracellular Pathogens * ¤ David S. Schneider , Janelle S. Ayres, Stephanie M. Brandt, Alexandre Costa, Marc S. Dionne , Michael D. Gordon, Eric M. Mabery, Madeleine G. Moule, Linh N. Pham, Mimi M. Shirasu-Hiza Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University, Stanford, California, United States of America 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. Citation: Schneider DS, Ayres JS, Brandt SM, Costa A, Dionne MS, et al. (2007) Drosophila eiger mutants are sensitive to extracellular pathogens. PLoS Pathog 3(3): e41. doi:10. 1371/journal.ppat.0030041 Introduction the strong immune defenses of the fly; this causes disease. In