Antimicrobial defence and persistent infection in insects revisited

Makarova, O., Rodriguez-Rojas, A., Eravci, M., Weise, C., Dobson, A. , Johnston, P. and Rolff, J. (2016) Antimicrobial defence and persistent infection in insects revisited. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 371(1695), 20150296. (doi: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0296) (PMID:27160598) (PMCID:PMC4874393)

Abstract

Insects show long-lasting antimicrobial immune responses that follow the initial fast-acting cellular processes. These immune responses are discussed to provide a form of phrophylaxis and/or to serve as a safety measure against persisting infections. The duration and components of such long-lasting responses have rarely been studied in detail, a necessary prerequisite to understand their adaptive value. Here, we present a 21 day proteomic time course of the mealworm beetle Tenebrio molitor immune-challenged with heat-killed Staphylococcus aureus. The most upregulated peptides are antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), many of which are still highly abundant 21 days after infection. The identified AMPs included toll and imd-mediated AMPs, a significant number of which have no known function against S. aureus or other Gram-positive bacteria. The proteome reflects the selective arena for bacterial infections. The results also corroborate the notion of synergistic interactions in vivo that are difficult to model in vitro.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Dobson, Dr Adam
• Authors: Makarova, O., Rodriguez-Rojas, A., Eravci, M., Weise, C., Dobson, A., Johnston, P., and Rolff, J.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Molecular Biosciences
• Journal Name: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
• Publisher: The Royal Society
• ISSN: 0962-8436
• ISSN (Online): 1471-2970