Dataset Information

GATA factors participate in tissue-specific immune responses in Drosophila larvae.

ABSTRACT: Drosophila responds to infection by producing a broad range of antimicrobial agents in the fat body and more restricted responses in tissues such as the gut, trachea, and malpighian tubules. The regulation of antimicrobial genes in larval fat depends on linked Rel/NF-kappaB and GATA binding sites. Serpent functions as the major GATA transcription factor in the larval fat body. However, the transcriptional regulation of other tissue-specific responses is less well understood. Here, we present evidence that dGATAe regulates antimicrobial gene expression in the midgut. Regulatory regions for antimicrobial genes Diptericin and Metchnikowin require GATA sites for activation in the midgut, where Grain (dGATAc), dGATAd, and dGATAe are expressed in overlapping domains. Ectopic expression of dGATAe in the larval fat body, where it is normally absent, causes dramatic up-regulation of numerous innate immunity and gut genes, as judged by microarray analysis and in situ hybridization. Ectopic dGATAe also causes a host of symptoms reminiscent of hyperactive Toll (Toll(10b)) mutants, but without apparent activation of Toll signaling. Based on this evidence we propose that dGATAe mediates a Toll-independent immune response in the midgut, providing a window into the first and perhaps most ancient line of animal defense.

SUBMITTER: Senger K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1635109 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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GATA factors participate in tissue-specific immune responses in Drosophila larvae.

Senger Kate K Harris Kristina K Levine Mike M

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20061010 43

Drosophila responds to infection by producing a broad range of antimicrobial agents in the fat body and more restricted responses in tissues such as the gut, trachea, and malpighian tubules. The regulation of antimicrobial genes in larval fat depends on linked Rel/NF-kappaB and GATA binding sites. Serpent functions as the major GATA transcription factor in the larval fat body. However, the transcriptional regulation of other tissue-specific responses is less well understood. Here, we present evi ...[more]

PMID: 17032752

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Project description:Copper is one of a handful of biologically necessary heavy metals that is also a common environmental pollutant. Under normal conditions, copper ions are required for many key physiological processes. However, in excess, copper quickly results in cell and tissue damage that can range in severity from temporary injury to permanent neurological damage. Because of its biological relevance, and because many conserved copper-responsive genes also respond to other non-essential heavy metal pollutants, copper resistance in Drosophila melanogaster is a useful model system with which to investigate the genetic control of the response to heavy metal stress. Because heavy metal toxicity has the potential to differently impact specific tissues, we genetically characterized the control of the gene expression response to copper stress in a tissue-specific manner in this study. We assessed the copper stress response in head and gut tissue of 96 inbred strains from the Drosophila Synthetic Population Resource (DSPR) using a combination of differential expression analysis and expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) mapping. Differential expression analysis revealed clear patterns of tissue-specific expression, primarily driven by a more pronounced gene expression response in gut tissue. eQTL mapping of gene expression under control and copper conditions as well as for the change in gene expression following copper exposure (copper response eQTL) revealed hundreds of genes with tissue-specific local cis-eQTL and many distant trans-eQTL. eQTL associated with MtnA, Mdr49, Mdr50, and Sod3 exhibited genotype by environment effects on gene expression under copper stress, illuminating several tissue- and treatment-specific patterns of gene expression control. Together, our data build a nuanced description of the roles and interactions between allelic and expression variation in copper-responsive genes, provide valuable insight into the genomic architecture of susceptibility to metal toxicity, and highlight many candidate genes for future functional characterization.

Dataset Information

GATA factors participate in tissue-specific immune responses in Drosophila larvae.

Publications

GATA factors participate in tissue-specific immune responses in Drosophila larvae.

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