title: Basement membrane and cell integrity of self-tissues in maintaining Drosophila immunological tolerance.
abstract: The mechanism underlying immune system recognition of different types of pathogens has been extensively studied over the past few decades; however, the mechanism by which healthy self-tissue evades an attack by its own immune system is less well-understood. Here, we established an autoimmune model of melanotic mass formation in Drosophila by genetically disrupting the basement membrane. We found that the basement membrane endows otherwise susceptible target tissues with self-tolerance that prevents autoimmunity, and further demonstrated that laminin is a key component for both structural maintenance and the self-tolerance checkpoint function of the basement membrane. Moreover, we found that cell integrity, as determined by cell-cell interaction and apicobasal polarity, functions as a second discrete checkpoint. Target tissues became vulnerable to blood cell encapsulation and subsequent melanization only after loss of both the basement membrane and cell integrity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Systems Biology, Yonsei University, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, South Korea.
authors.forename: Moon Jong
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Systems Biology, Yonsei University, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, South Korea.
authors.forename: Kwang-Min
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Choe
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D015551:Autoimmunity / Q000235:genetics; D001485:Basement Membrane / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology; D002450:Cell Communication; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D007108:Immune Tolerance; D007797:Laminin / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D007814:Larva / Q000276:immunology; D034622:RNA Interference
chemical_list: D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D007797:Laminin