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The Drosophila immune system detects bacteria through specific peptidoglycan recognition

Nature Immunology volume 4, pages 478–484 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

The Drosophila immune system discriminates between different classes of infectious microbes and responds with pathogen-specific defense reactions through selective activation of the Toll and the immune deficiency (Imd) signaling pathways. The Toll pathway mediates most defenses against Gram-positive bacteria and fungi, whereas the Imd pathway is required to resist infection by Gram-negative bacteria. The bacterial components recognized by these pathways remain to be defined. Here we report that Gram-negative diaminopimelic acid–type peptidoglycan is the most potent inducer of the Imd pathway and that the Toll pathway is predominantly activated by Gram-positive lysine-type peptidoglycan. Thus, the ability of Drosophila to discriminate between Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria relies on the recognition of specific forms of peptidoglycan.

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Figure 1: Gram-negative peptidoglycan (PG) activates the Imd pathway.
Figure 2: Gram-negative peptidoglycan (PG) induces Dpt expression via the Imd pathway.
Figure 3: Muramidase-treated peptidoglycan (PG) does not activate antimicrobial peptide genes.
Figure 4: Gram-negative peptidoglycan (PG) is the most potent activator of Dpt in cultured cells.
Figure 5: Gram-positive and Gram-negative peptidoglycans (PGs) activate the Toll pathway.
Figure 6: Gram-positive and Gram-negative peptidoglycans (PGs) induce Drs expression via the Toll pathway.

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Acknowledgements

We thank E. De Gregorio and F. Boccard for reading the manuscript; N. Vodovar for technical help; R. Chaby, D. Philpott and S. Girardin for discussions, and J. Royet, D. Ferrandon and K.V. Anderson for fly stocks. This work was supported by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and grants from Association pour la Recherche sur la Cancer, Programme de Recherche Fondamentale en Microbiologie et Maladies Infectieuses et Parasitaires and the Agence Nationale de Recherche sur le Sida.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre de Génétique Moléculaire du CNRS, Gif-sur-Yvette, France, F-91198

    François Leulier, Sebastien Pili-Floury & Bruno Lemaitre

  2. IBBMC, UMR 8619 CNRS, Université Paris-sud, Bât. 430, Orsay, F-91405, France

    Claudine Parquet, Martine Caroff & Dominique Mengin-Lecreulx

  3. Laboratory of Molecular & Cellular Biology Division of Molecular Life Science, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, 120-750, South Korea

    Ji-Hwan Ryu & Won-Jae Lee

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Correspondence to Bruno Lemaitre.

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Leulier, F., Parquet, C., Pili-Floury, S. et al. The Drosophila immune system detects bacteria through specific peptidoglycan recognition. Nat Immunol 4, 478–484 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/ni922

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