scholarly journals Trained Immunity in Anopheles gambiae: Antibacterial Immunity Is Enhanced by Priming via Sugar Meal Supplemented With a Single Gut Symbiotic Bacterial Strain

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aditi Kulkarni ◽  
Ashmita Pandey ◽  
Patrick Trainor ◽  
Samantha Carlisle ◽  
Jainder S. Chhilar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
Anopheles Gambiae ◽  
Innate Immune ◽  
Rna Seq ◽  
Immune Genes ◽  
Trained Immunity ◽  
Three Samples ◽  
Immune Enhancement ◽  
Injury Control ◽  
Basal Immunity

Mosquitoes have evolved an effective innate immune system. The mosquito gut accommodates various microbes, which play a crucial role in shaping the mosquito immune system during evolution. The resident bacteria in the gut microbiota play an essential role in priming basal immunity. In this study, we show that antibacterial immunity in Anopheles gambiae can be enhanced by priming via a sugar meal supplemented with bacteria. Serratia fonticola S1 and Enterobacter sp. Ag1 are gut bacteria in mosquitoes. The intrathoracic injection of the two bacteria can result in an acute hemocoelic infection in the naïve mosquitoes with mortality of ∼40% at 24 h post-infection. However, the Enterobacter orSerratia primed mosquitoes showed a better 24 h survival upon the bacterial challenge. The priming confers the protection with a certain degree of specificity, the Enterobacter primed mosquitoes had a better survival upon the Enterobacter but not Serratia challenge, and the Serratia primed mosquitoes had a better survival upon the Serratia but not Enterobacter challenge. To understand the priming-mediated immune enhancement, the transcriptomes were characterized in the mosquitoes of priming as well as priming plus challenges. The RNA-seq was conducted to profile 10 transcriptomes including three samples of priming conditions (native microbiota, Serratia priming, and Enterobacter priming), six samples of priming plus challenges with the two bacteria, and one sample of injury control. The three priming regimes resulted in distinctive transcriptomic profiles with about 60% of genes affected by both bacteria. Upon challenges, different primed mosquitoes displayed different transcriptomic patterns in response to different bacteria. When a primed cohort was challenged with a heterogenous bacterium, more responsive genes were observed than when challenged with a homogenous bacterium. As expected, many canonical immune genes were responsive to the priming and challenge, but much more non-immune genes with various functions were also responsive in the contexts, which implies that the prior priming triggers a delicately coordinated systemic regulation that results in an enhanced immunity against the subsequent challenge. Besides the participation of typical immune pathways, the transcriptome data suggest the involvement of lysosome and metabolism in the context. Overall, this study demonstrated a trained immunity via priming with bacteria in diet.

scholarly journals The neuropeptide receptor NMUR-1 regulates the specificity of C. elegans innate immunity against pathogen infection

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phillip Wibisono ◽  
Shawndra Wibisono ◽  
Jan Watteyne ◽  
Chia-Hui Chen ◽  
Durai Sellegounder ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Innate Immunity ◽  
Immune System ◽  
Immune Responses ◽  
Adaptive Immune System ◽  
Innate Immune ◽  
Innate Immune Responses ◽  
Immune Genes ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
Adaptive Immune ◽  
Functional Assays

A key question in current immunology is how the innate immune system generates high levels of specificity. Like most invertebrates, Caenorhabditis elegans does not have an adaptive immune system and relies solely on innate immunity to defend itself against pathogen attacks, yet it can still differentiate different pathogens and launch distinct innate immune responses. Here, we have found that functional loss of NMUR-1, a neuronal GPCR homologous to mammalian receptors for the neuropeptide neuromedin U, has diverse effects on C. elegans survival against various bacterial pathogens. Transcriptomic analyses and functional assays revealed that NMUR-1 modulates C. elegans transcription activity by regulating the expression of transcription factors, which, in turn, controls the expression of distinct immune genes in response to different pathogens. Our study has uncovered a molecular basis for the specificity of C. elegans innate immunity that could provide mechanistic insights into understanding the specificity of vertebrate innate immunity.

scholarly journals Effects of Overexpression of the Egyptian Fruit Bat Innate Immune Genes on Filovirus Infections in the Host Cells

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan V. Kuzmin ◽  
Palaniappan Ramanathan ◽  
Christopher F. Basler ◽  
Alexander Bukreyev
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
Innate Immune System ◽  
Innate Immune ◽  
Host Cells ◽  
Type I ◽  
Fluorescent Reporter ◽  
Immune Genes ◽  
Fruit Bat ◽  
Virus Clearance ◽  
Innate Immune Genes

Bats constitute a large and diverse group of mammals with unique characteristics. One of these is the ability of bats to maintain various pathogens, particularly viruses, without evidence of disease. The innate immune system has been implicated as one of the important components involved in this process. However, in contrast to the human innate immune system, little data is available for bats. In the present study we generated 23 fusion constructs of innate immune genes of Egyptian fruit bat (Rousettus aegyptiacus) with mCherry as a fluorescent reporter. We evaluated the effects of overexpressing these genes on the replication of Marburg and Ebola viruses in the Egyptian fruit bat cell line R06EJ. Both viruses were substantially inhibited by overexpression of type I, II and III interferons, as well as by DDX58 (RIG-I), IFIH1, and IRF1. Our observations suggest that the broad antiviral activity of these genes reported previously in human cells is conserved in Egyptian fruit bats and these possess anti-filovirus activities that may contribute to the efficient virus clearance.

scholarly journals 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E) primes innate immune responses that limit bacteria and malaria parasite survival in Anopheles gambiae

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebekah A. Reynolds ◽  
Hyeogsun Kwon ◽  
Ryan C. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Immune Function ◽  
Anopheles Gambiae ◽  
Blood Feeding ◽  
Innate Immune ◽  
Innate Immune Responses ◽  
Temporal Regulation ◽  
Immune Genes ◽  
Pathogen Challenge ◽  
Immunological Effects ◽  
Cellular Immune

AbstractBlood-feeding is an integral behavior of mosquitoes to acquire nutritional resources needed for reproduction. This requirement also enables mosquitoes to serve as efficient vectors to acquire and potentially transmit a multitude of mosquito-borne diseases, most notably malaria. Recent studies suggest that mosquito immunity is stimulated following a blood meal, independent of infection status. Since blood-feeding results in the increased production of the hormone 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E), we hypothesized that 20E may play an important role in priming the immune response for pathogen challenge. Herein, we examine the immunological effects of priming in Anopheles gambiae with 20E prior to pathogen infection, demonstrating a significant reduction in bacteria and Plasmodium berghei survival in the mosquito host. RNA-seq analysis following 20E treatment identifies several known 20E-regulated genes, as well as several immune genes with previously reported function in anti-pathogen defense. This includes the anti-microbial peptide cecropin 3, which we demonstrate its role as an antagonist of bacteria and Plasmodium in Anopheles gambiae and provide support that these responses are under temporal regulation. Together, these data demonstrate that 20E influences cellular immune function and anti-pathogen immunity following mosquito blood-feeding, arguing the importance of hormones in the regulation of mosquito innate immune function.

Changes in the microbiota cause genetically modified Anopheles to spread in a population

Science ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 357 (6358) ◽  
pp. 1396-1399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Pike ◽  
Yuemei Dong ◽  
Nahid Borhani Dizaji ◽  
Anthony Gacita ◽  
Emmanuel F. Mongodin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
Innate Immune System ◽  
Bacterial Infections ◽  
Genetically Modified ◽  
Reproductive Organs ◽  
Innate Immune ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Immune Genes ◽  
Cage Population ◽  
Genetically Modified Mosquitoes

The mosquito’s innate immune system controls both Plasmodium and bacterial infections. We investigated the competitiveness of mosquitoes genetically modified to alter expression of their own anti-Plasmodium immune genes in a mixed-cage population with wild-type mosquitoes. We observed that genetically modified mosquitoes with increased immune activity in the midgut tissue did not have an observed fitness disadvantage and showed reduced microbial loads in both the midgut and reproductive organs. These changes result in a mating preference of genetically modified males for wild-type females, whereas wild-type males prefer genetically modified females. These changes foster the spread of the genetic modification in a mosquito cage population.

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