DEFENSIN GENE REGULATION AND MOSQUITO VECTOR COMPETENCE

描述(改编自申请人的摘要)：防御素是 埃及伊蚊产生的优势免疫肽对微生物的应答 侮辱，越来越多的数据表明这种分子，无论是单独的还是在 与其他免疫因子协同作用，可干扰 丝虫和疟疾寄生虫，如果防御素基因在早期被诱导 一种感染。为了解决防御素和 蚊子的抗微生物体液反应可以限制疾病的发展 关于真核寄生虫，提出了以下具体目标：(1)鉴定 并对这些调控防御素基因表达的机制进行了表征 天哪。埃及伊蚊的长期目标是确定寄生虫如何能够 避免启动这种免疫反应；(2)评估防御素的生物学 关于它们的时空表达模式，潜在的 原始免疫记忆系统的存在及其杀伤力 (3)利用现有的序列数据 针对伊蚊和按蚊中的免疫肽开始分离 以及库蚊免疫多肽的性质，并确定是否免疫 激活限制了班克罗夫氏舞蹈菌在该天然载体中的发育； 以及，(4)利用转导病毒和转座子介导的转化 严格评估防御素和/或其他免疫肽的能力 在艾县杀灭丝虫和疟疾寄生虫。埃及伊蚊和Cx.皮皮恩斯。 与CX一起学习。和白纹伊蚊可能是因为 与埃及研究人员的合作安排。

DESCRIPTION (Adapted from the Applicant's Abstract): Defensins are the predominant immune peptide produced by Aedes aegypti in response to microbial insult, and a growing amount of data suggest this molecule, either alone or in concert with other immune factors, can interfere with the development of filarial worms and malaria parasites, if the defensin gene is induced early in an infection. To address the overall hypothesis that defensins and the antimicrobial humoral response of mosquitoes can limit the development of eukaryotic parasites, the following specific aims are proposed: (1) To identify and characterize those mechanisms regulating gene expression of defensins in Ae. Aegypti, with the long-term goal of determining how parasites are able to avoid turning on this immune response; (2) to evaluate the biology of defensins regarding their temporal and spatial expression patterns, the potential existence of a primitive immunological memory system, and their ability to kill eukaryotic parasites in vitro and in vivo; (3) to use sequence data available for immune peptides in Aedes and Anopheles mosquitoes to begin the isolation and characterization of immune peptides in Culex and to determine if immune activation limits the development of Wucheria bancrofti in this natural vector; and, (4) to use transducing viruses and transposon-mediated transformation to critically evaluate the ability of defensins and/or other immune peptides to kill filarial worms and malaria parasites in Ae. aegypti and Cx. pipiens. Studies with Cx. Pipiens and W. bancrofti are possible because of a collaborative arrangement with researchers in Egypt.