title: Alternative adaptive immunity in invertebrates.
abstract: Vertebrate adaptive immunity is characterized by challenge-specific long-term protection. This specific memory is achieved through the vast diversity of somatically rearranged immunological receptors such as antibodies. Whether or not invertebrates are capable of a comparable phenotypic plasticity and memory has long been a matter of debate. A recent study on Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes now establishes Down syndrome cell adhesion molecule (Dscam) as a key immune surveillance factor with characteristics analogous to antibodies.
authors.affiliation: ETH Zürich, Institute for Integrative Biology, Experimental Ecology, ETH-Zentrum, CHN J12.1, CH-8092 Zürich, Switzerland. joachim.kurtz@env.ethz.ch
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kurtz
authors.forename: Sophie A O
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Armitage
mesh_terms: D000220:Adaptation, Biological / Q000276:immunology*; D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D004314:Down Syndrome / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007448:Invertebrates / Q000276:immunology*; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D015996:Survival Rate
chemical_list: D008565:Membrane Proteins