title: Activation of Drosophila Toll during fungal infection by a blood serine protease.
abstract: Drosophila host defense to fungal and Gram-positive bacterial infection is mediated by the Spaetzle/Toll/cactus gene cassette. It has been proposed that Toll does not function as a pattern recognition receptor per se but is activated through a cleaved form of the cytokine Spaetzle. The upstream events linking infection to the cleavage of Spaetzle have long remained elusive. Here we report the identification of a central component of the fungal activation of Toll. We show that ethylmethane sulfonate-induced mutations in the persephone gene, which encodes a previously unknown serine protease, block induction of the Toll pathway by fungi and resistance to this type of infection.
authors.affiliation: Institut de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, UPR 9022 du CNRS, 15 rue R. Descartes, F67084 Strasbourg Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Petros
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ligoxygakis
authors.forename: Nadège
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pelte
authors.forename: Jules A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Hoffmann
authors.forename: Jean-Marc
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Reichhart
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D004330:Drosophila / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000382:microbiology*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000097:blood* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D017344:Genes, Insect; D006095:Gram-Positive Cocci / Q000502:physiology; D006458:Hemolymph / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D006999:Hypocreales / Q000502:physiology*; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D021382:Protein Sorting Signals; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases / Q000097:blood* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D051193:Toll-Like Receptors
chemical_list: D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D019476:Insect Proteins; D021382:Protein Sorting Signals; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; C068721:Tl protein, Drosophila; D051193:Toll-Like Receptors; C086179:spz protein, Drosophila; C091227:DRS protein, Drosophila; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases; C460880:psh protein, Drosophila