Effects of caste on the expression of genes associated with septic injury and xenobiotic exposure in the Formosan subterranean termite.

ABSTRACT: As social insects, termites live in densely populated colonies with specialized castes under conditions conducive to microbial growth and transmission. Furthermore, termites are exposed to xenobiotics in soil and their lignocellulose diet. Therefore, termites are valuable models for studying gene expression involved in response to septic injury, immunity and detoxification in relation to caste membership. In this study, workers and soldiers of the Formosan subterranean termite, Coptotermes formosanus, were challenged by bacterial injection or by no-choice feeding with a sublethal concentration (0.5%) of phenobarbital. Constitutive and induced expression of six putative immune response genes (two encoding for lectin-like proteins, one for a ficolin-precursor, one for the Down syndrome cell

SUBMITTER: Husseneder C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4139394 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature