Immune signaling pathways regulating bacterial and malaria parasite infection of the mosquito Anopheles gambiae.

Journal article

We show that, in the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae, expression of Cecropin 1 is regulated by REL2, an NF-kappaB-like transcription factor orthologous to Drosophila Relish. Through alternative splicing, REL2 produces a full-length (REL2-F) and a shorter (REL2-S) protein isoform lacking the inhibitory ankyrin repeats and death domain. RNA interference experiments show that, in contrast to Drosophila Relish, which responds solely to Gram-negative bacteria, the Anopheles REL2-F and REL2-S isoforms are involved in defense against the Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus and the Gram-negative Escherichia coli bacteria, respectively. REL2-F also regulates the intensity of mosquito infection with the malaria parasite, Plasmodium berghei. The adaptor IMD shares the same activities as REL2-F. Microarray analysis identified 10 additional genes regulated by REL2, including CEC3, GAM1, and LRIM1.

Authors: Meister, S; Kanzok, S; Zheng, X; Luna, C; Li, T

• Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
• Volume: 102
• Issue: 32
• Pages: 11420-11425
• Publication date: 2005-08-01
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0504950102
• EISSN: 1091-6490
• ISSN: 0027-8424
• Language: English
• Keywords: Signal Transduction; Anopheles gambiae; Alternative Splicing; Transcription Factors; Gene Expression Regulation; Animals; Genome Components; Microarray Analysis; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; Plasmodium berghei; Staphylococcus aureus; Escherichia coli; Insect Proteins; Luciferases