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RESEARCH PRODUCT
Identification of the Weevil immune genes and their expression in the bacteriome tissue
Carole Vincent-monégatVicente Pérez-brocalCaroline AnselmeDelphine CharifAgnès VallierAbdelaziz HeddiAmparo LatorreAndrés Moyasubject
PhysiologyPlant Scienceprotéines et peptides de signalisation intracellulaireStructural BiologyGene expressionlcsh:QH301-705.5Genetics0303 health sciencesAgricultural and Biological Sciences(all)EndosymbiosisReverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain ReactionMicrobiology and ParasitologyIntracellular Signaling Peptides and ProteinsMicrobiologie et ParasitologielarveLarva1-1-1 Article périodique à comité de lectureInsect ProteinsGeneral Agricultural and Biological SciencesResearch ArticleBiotechnologyexpression géniquecharanconMolecular Sequence DatamuramidaseBiologyGeneral Biochemistry Genetics and Molecular BiologyMicrobiology03 medical and health sciencesAposymbioticcurculionidaeImmune systemEscherichia coliAnimalsGeneEcology Evolution Behavior and SystematicsAlphaproteobacteria030304 developmental biologyBiochemistry Genetics and Molecular Biology(all)030306 microbiologyTOLLIPIntracellular parasitefungiBacteriomeCell Biologybiochemical phenomena metabolism and nutritionGene Expression Regulationlcsh:Biology (General)WeevilsbacteriaCarrier ProteinsAntimicrobial Cationic Peptides[SDV.EE.IEO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Ecology environment/SymbiosisDevelopmental Biologydescription
Abstract Background Persistent infections with mutualistic intracellular bacteria (endosymbionts) are well represented in insects and are considered to be a driving force in evolution. However, while pathogenic relationships have been well studied over the last decades very little is known about the recognition of the endosymbionts by the host immune system and the mechanism that limits their infection to the bacteria-bearing host tissue (the bacteriome). Results To study bacteriome immune specificity, we first identified immune-relevant genes of the weevil Sitophilus zeamais by using suppressive subtractive hybridization (SSH) and then analyzed their full-length coding sequences obtained by RACE-PCR experiments. We then measured immune gene expression in the bacteriome, and in the aposymbiotic larvae following S. zeamais primary endosymbiont (SZPE) injection into the hemolymph, in order to consider the questions of bacteriome immune specificity and the insect humoral response to symbionts. We show that larval challenge with the endosymbiont results in a significant induction of antibacterial peptide genes, providing evidence that, outside the bacteriome, SZPE are recognized as microbial intruders by the host. In the bacteriome, gene expression analysis shows the overexpression of one antibacterial peptide from the coleoptericin family and, intriguingly, homologs to genes described as immune modulators (that is, PGRP-LB, Tollip) were also shown to be highly expressed in the bacteriome. Conclusion The current data provide the first description of immune gene expression in the insect bacteriome. Compared with the insect humoral response to SZPE, the bacteriome expresses few genes among those investigated in this work. This local immune gene expression may help to maintain the endosymbiont in the bacteriome and prevent its invasion into insect tissues. Further investigations of the coleoptericin, the PGRP and the Tollip genes should elucidate the role of the host immune system in the maintenance and regulation of endosymbiosis.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008-10-01 | BMC Biology |