title: Beetle immunity.
abstract: Genetic studies have elegantly characterized the innate immune response in Drosophila melanogaster. However, these studies have a limited ability to reveal the biochemical mechanisms underlying the innate immune response. To investigate the biochemical basis of how insects recognize invading microbes and how these recognition signals activate the innate immune response, it is necessary to use insects, from which larger amounts of hemolymph can be extracted. Using the larvae from two species of beetle, Tenebrio molitor and Holotrichia diomphalia, we elucidated the mechanisms underlying pathogenic microbe recognition. In addition, we studied the mechanism of host defense molecule amplification. In particular, we identified several pattern recognition proteins, serine proteases, serpins and antimicrobial peptides and examined how these molecules affect innate immunity.
authors.affiliation: National Research Laboratory of Defense Proteins, College of Pharmacy, Pusan National University, Busan, Korea.
authors.forename: Ji-Won
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Chan-Hee
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Jiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rui
authors.forename: Keun-Hwa
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Kyung-Hwa
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Ryu
authors.forename: Jun-Ho
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Chai
authors.forename: Hyun-Ok
authors.initials: HO
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kurokawa
authors.forename: Nam-Chul
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Ha
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Söderhill
authors.forename: Kenneth
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Söderhill
authors.forename: Bok Luel
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001517:Coleoptera / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D006458:Hemolymph / Q000276:immunology; D007109:Immunity / Q000276:immunology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D051192:Receptors, Pattern Recognition / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D051192:Receptors, Pattern Recognition