Proteolytic activation and function of the cytokine Spatzle in the innate immune response of a lepidopteran insect, Manduca sexta.

ABSTRACT: The innate immune response of insects includes induced expression of genes encoding a variety of antimicrobial peptides. The signaling pathways that stimulate this gene expression have been well characterized by genetic analysis in Drosophila melanogaster, but are not well understood in most other insect species. One such pathway involves proteolytic activation of a cytokine called Spätzle, which functions in dorsal-ventral patterning in early embryonic development and in the antimicrobial immune response in larvae and adults. We have investigated the function of Spätzle in a lepidopteran insect, Manduca sexta, in which hemolymph proteinases activated during immune responses have been characterized biochemically. Two cDNA isoforms for M. sexta Spätzle-1 differ because of alternative splici

SUBMITTER: An C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2805777 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature