Nelson, B., Freisinger, T., Ishii, K., Okado, K., Shinzawa, N., Fukumoto, S., Kanuka, H. (2013). Activation of Imd pathway in hemocyte confers infection resistance through humoral response in Drosophila.  Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 430(3): 1120--1125.

FBrf0220567

Research paper

Upon microbial invasion the innate immune system of Drosophila melanogaster mounts a response that comes in two distinct but complimentary forms, humoral and cellular. A screen to find genes capable of conferring resistance to the Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus upon ectopic expression in immune response tissues uncovered imd gene. This resistance was not dependent on cellular defenses but rather likely a result of upregulation of the humoral response through increased expression of antimicrobial peptides, including a Toll pathway reporter gene drosomycin. Taken together it appears that Imd pathway is capable of playing a role in resistance to the Gram-positive S. aureus, counter to notions of traditional roles of the Imd pathway thought largely to responsible for resistance to Gram-negative bacteria.