title: A putative helical cytokine functioning in innate immune signalling in Drosophila melanogaster.
abstract: In invertebrates and vertebrates, innate immunity is considered the first line of defense mechanism against non-self material. In vertebrates, cytokines play a critical role in innate immune signalling. To date, however, the existence of genes encoding for invertebrate helical cytokines has been anticipated, but never demonstrated. Here, we report the first structural and functional evidence of a gene encoding for a putative helical cytokine in Drosophila melanogaster. Functional experiments demonstrate that its expression, as well as that of the antimicrobial factors defensin and cecropin A1, is significantly increased after immune stimulation. These observations suggest the involvement of helical cytokines in the innate immune response of invertebrates.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Biology, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, via Campi 213/D, 41100 Modena, Italy.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Malagoli
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Conklin
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sacchi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mandrioli
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ottaviani
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D016207:Cytokines / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D023082:Defensins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D007113:Immunity, Innate / Q000235:genetics*; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship
chemical_list: D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides; D016207:Cytokines; D023082:Defensins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; C031161:cecropin A