Project description:The Toll pathway is the chief antifungal pathway in Drosophila. Two components of this pathway have disparate effects on Drosophila infected with Metarhizium ansiopliae ARSEF 549 (Ma549). Infected Drosophila Dif mutants show no change in susceptibility while infected psh mutants rapidly succumb to infection. We evaluated the impact of Ma549 on gene regulation in flies deficient in these Toll pathway components to identify the cause for these susceptibility differences. Four fly lines were used: psh, BDSC6326 (psh control), Dif, and cn bw (Dif control). RNA was collected 46 hrs post infection for 10 infected or uninfected male flies per replicate.