A role for nematocytes in the cellular immune response of the drosophilid Zaprionus indianus.

ABSTRACT: The melanotic encapsulation response mounted by Drosophila melanogaster against macroparasites, which is based on haemocyte binding to foreign objects, is poorly characterized relative to its humoral immune response against microbes, and appears to be variable across insect lineages. The genus Zaprionus is a diverse clade of flies embedded within the genus Drosophila. Here we characterize the immune response of Zaprionus indianus against endoparasitoid wasp eggs, which elicit the melanotic encapsulation response in D. melanogaster. We find that Z. indianus is highly resistant to diverse wasp species. Although Z. indianus mounts the canonical melanotic encapsulation response against some wasps, it can also potentially fight off wasp infection using two other mechanisms: encapsulation withou

SUBMITTER: Kacsoh BZ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4479215 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature