Interaction Between Drosophila melanogaster mbn-2 Cells and Bacteria

Abstract: Innate immunity relies on a repertoire of germline-encoded non-rearranging pattern recognition receptors that bind to invariant microbial surface molecules. This event initiates a number of signal transduction cascades that lead to humoral and cellular defense responses like synthesis of antimicrobial peptides, phagocytosis and coagulation – mechanisms that efficiently fight infectious microorganisms and have been evolutionary conserved to exist in parallel with the antibody-based adaptive immunity found in vertebrates.The fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster represents a widely used animal model for studies of a pristine innate immune system. Its immune responsive intracellular signalling pathways display a high degree of similarity with the NF-?B /Rel-signalling pathways that mediate the inflammatory response in mammals. Insects are also vectors for medically important parasitic diseases which can trigger immune responses in the vector so basal knowledge about the regulation and function of insect immune systems can contribute to our understanding of inflammation and microbial disease in higher animals and open new strategies for biological vector control.Drosophila hemocytes play a key role in executing and coordinating local and systemic defenses in response to infection. This thesis describes in vitro studies of Drosophila gene expression in response to bacterial infection using the larval hemocyte-like cell line – mbn-2. Our results show that immune challenge with bacterial cell wall components and intact live bacteria induces differential gene expression that gives clues to how cellular immune responses could be activated and regulated.