Requirement for a conserved Toll/interleukin-1 resistance domain protein in the Caenorhabditis elegans immune response.

ABSTRACT: The p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway regulates innate immune responses in evolutionarily diverse species. We have previously shown that the Caenorhabditis elegans p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase, PMK-1, functions in an innate immune response pathway that mediates resistance to a variety of microbial pathogens. Here, we show that tir-1, a gene encoding a highly conserved Toll/IL-1 resistance (TIR) domain protein, is also required for C. elegans resistance to microbial pathogens. RNA interference inactivation of tir-1 resulted in enhanced susceptibility to killing by pathogens and correspondingly diminished PMK-1 phosphorylation. Unlike all known TIR-domain adapter proteins, overexpression of the human TIR-1 homologue, SARM, in mammalian cells was not sufficient to induce ex

SUBMITTER: Liberati NT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC404090 | biostudies-literature | 2004 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature