Participation of the Serine Protease Jonah66Ci in the Drosophila Antinematode Immune Response.

ABSTRACT: Serine proteases and serine protease homologs form the second largest gene family in the Drosophila melanogaster genome. Certain genes in the Jonah multigene family encoding serine proteases have been implicated in the fly antiviral immune response. Here, we report the involvement of Jonah66Ci in the Drosophila immune defense against Steinernema carpocapsae nematode infection. We find that Drosophila Jonah66Ci is upregulated in response to symbiotic (carrying the mutualistic bacterium Xenorhabdus nematophila) or axenic (lacking Xenorhabdus) Steinernema nematodes and is expressed exclusively in the gut of Drosophila larvae. Inactivation of Jonah66Ci provides a survival advantage to larvae against axenic nematodes and results in differential expression of Toll and Imd pathway effector genes,

SUBMITTER: Yadav S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6704595 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature