Genome-wide analysis of the Drosophila immune response by using oligonucleotide microarrays - PubMed (original) (raw)

Genome-wide analysis of the Drosophila immune response by using oligonucleotide microarrays

E De Gregorio et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2001.

Abstract

To identify new Drosophila genes involved in the immune response, we monitored the gene expression profile of adult flies in response to microbial infection by using high-density oligonucleotide microarrays encompassing nearly the full Drosophila genome. Of 13,197 genes tested, we have characterized 230 induced and 170 repressed by microbial infection, most of which had not previously been associated with the immune response. Many of these genes can be assigned to specific aspects of the immune response, including recognition, phagocytosis, coagulation, melanization, activation of NF-kappaB transcription factors, synthesis of antimicrobial peptides, production of reactive oxygen species, and regulation of iron metabolism. Additionally, we found a large number of genes with unknown function that may be involved in control and execution of the immune response. Determining the function of these genes represents an important challenge for improving our knowledge of innate immunity. Complete results may be found at http://www.fruitfly.org/expression/immunity/.

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Figures

Figure 1

Figure 1

General statistics on the Drosophila immune-regulated genes. (A) Cluster image of the 400 DIRGs. The expression profiles after fungal natural infection (F.) and septic injury (S.I.) are shown. Columns correspond to different time points and rows to different genes. Red indicated increased mRNA levels, whereas green indicated decreased levels compared with uninfected flies. The brightest reds and greens are 6-fold induced and repressed, respectively. The graphs in B and C show the number of the genes induced (B) and repressed (C) responding to fungal natural infection (F.), septic injury (S.I.), or both. (D) Distribution of induced (white bars) and repressed (black bars) genes based on their fold change.

Figure 2

Figure 2

Drosophila melanization cascade. Schematic representation of the melanization cascade (see text for description) The Drosophila genes involved in the melanization pathway are indicated. Previously uncharacterized genes have names comprised of CG followed by a number (28); more information about these genes can be found in the FlyBase database (

www.flybase.org

). The numbers in parentheses represent the peak of activation within the expression profile (fold change compared to uninfected flies). =, no change in the expression levels; A, acute-phase gene; I, intermediate-phase gene.

Figure 3

Figure 3

Drosophila Toll and Imd pathways. Schematic representation of the Toll and Imd pathways (for more information see ref. 4). The numbers in parentheses correspond to the peak of activation within the expression profile (fold change compared to uninfected flies). A, acute-phase gene; L, late-response gene; b, gene regulated by bacterial infection; b + f, gene regulated by both bacterial and fungal infection. Imd encodes a protein with homology to RIP (P. Georgel, personal communication).

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