Immunity to a Parasitoid Wasp in Drosophila melanogaster

描述（由申请人提供）：果蝇已成为研究先天免疫，特别是对细菌和真菌感染的体液（无细胞）应答的重要模型系统。果蝇也受到寄生蜂的攻击，寄生蜂将卵产在果蝇幼虫中。苍蝇幼虫产生免疫反应，血淋巴细胞附着并包裹黄蜂卵，在卵周围存款一层黑色素，并在黑色素囊内释放细胞毒性分子杀死卵。这种反应的分子基础，以及一般的细胞免疫反应，知之甚少。先天免疫系统如何区分宿主组织和密切相关的寄生虫组织也不清楚。我将使用遗传作图，mRNA基因表达，和其他方法来确定抗性的遗传基础，和抗性的变化，对寄生蜂在D。黑腹菌此外，我将测量DNA序列和已知基因的进化保守的酚氧化酶途径，负责黑色素的产生，黑色素沉积在果蝇的效率的转录水平的变化的影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Drosophila has become an important model system for the study of innate immunity, in particular the humoral (cell-free) response to bacterial and fungal infections. Drosophila is also attacked by parasitoid wasps, which lay their eggs in fly larvae. Fly larvae mount an immune response in which hemolymph (blood) cells attach to and encapsulate the wasp egg, deposit a layer of melanin around the egg, and release cytotoxic molecules within the melanized capsule to kill the egg. The molecular basis for this response, and for the cellular immune response in general, is poorly understood. Nor is it understood how the innate immune system distinguishes host tissue from that of closely related parasites. I will use genetic mapping, mRNA gene expression, and other methods to determine the genetic basis for resistance, and variation in resistance, against a parasitoid wasp in D. melanogaster. Furthermore, I will measure the effect of variation in DNA sequence and transcription levels of known genes of the evolutionarily conserved phenoloxidase pathway, responsible for the generation of melanin, on the efficiency of melanin deposition in Drosophila.