title: Noduler, a novel immune up-regulated protein mediates nodulation response in insects.
abstract: Insect immune system comprises of both humoral and cellular defenses. Nodulation is one of the major, yet very poorly understood cellular responses against microbial infections in insects. Through screening for novel immune genes from an Indian saturniid silkmoth Antheraea mylitta, we identified a protein up-regulated in hemolymph within minutes upon bacterial challenge. We have shown here, for first time, the involvement of this novel protein in mediating nodulation response against bacteria and hence designated it as Noduler. Noduler possessed a characteristic reeler domain found in several extracellular matrix vertebrate proteins. Noduler was shown in vitro to bind a wide range of bacteria, yeast, and also insect hemocytes. Furthermore, Noduler specifically bound LPS, lipotechoic acid, and beta-1, 3 glucan components of microbial cell walls. RNA-interference mediated knock-down of the Noduler resulted in significant reduction in the number of nodules and consequent increase in bacterial load in larval hemolymph. The results suggest that the Noduler is widely conserved and is involved in very early clearance of bacteria by forming nodules of hemocytes and bacterial complexes in insects. The results would promote further studies for understanding of the crucial but hitherto overlooked nodulation mechanism in insects and also provide cues for the study of similar mammalian proteins whose function is not understood.
authors.affiliation: Centre of Excellence for Genetics and Genomics of Silkmoths, Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, ECIL Road, Nacharam, Hyderabad, India.
authors.forename: Archana S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Gandhe
authors.forename: Serene H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: John
authors.forename: Javaregowda
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nagaraju
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D012831:Bombyx / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D002473:Cell Wall / Q000276:immunology; D006434:Hemocytes / Q000276:immunology; D006458:Hemolymph / Q000276:immunology; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000276:immunology; D008322:Mammals / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary / Q000235:genetics; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013682:Teichoic Acids / Q000276:immunology; D015854:Up-Regulation / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D019476:Insect Proteins; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; D013682:Teichoic Acids; C009900:lipoteichoic acid