The Toll pathway underlies host sexual dimorphism in resistance to both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria in mated Drosophila.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Host sexual dimorphism is being increasingly recognized to generate strong differences in the outcome of infectious disease, but the mechanisms underlying immunological differences between males and females remain poorly characterized. Here, we used Drosophila melanogaster to assess and dissect sexual dimorphism in the innate response to systemic bacterial infection.

Results

We demonstrated sexual dimorphism in susceptibility to infection by a broad spectrum of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. We found that both virgin and mated females are more susceptible than mated males to most, but not all, infections. We investigated in more detail the lower resistance of females to infection with Providencia rettgeri, a Gram-negative bacterium that naturally infect

SUBMITTER: Duneau DF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5740927 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature