Involvement of the Anopheles gambiae Nimrod gene family in mosquito immune responses》.pdfVIP

Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 44 (2014) 12e22 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology journal homepage: www.els /locate/ibmb Involvement of the Anopheles gambiae Nimrod gene family in mosquito immune responses Tania Y. Estévez-Lao, Julián F. Hillyer* Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, VU Station B 35-1634, Nashville, TN 37235, USA a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t Article history: Insects fight infection using a variety of signaling pathways and immune effector proteins. In Drosophila Received 24 June 2013 melanogaster, three members of the Nimrod gene family (draper, nimC1 and eater) bind bacteria, and this Received in revised form binding leads to phagocytosis by hemocytes. The Nimrod gene family has since been identified in other 23 October 2013 insects, but their function in non-drosophilids remains unknown. The purpose of this study was to Accepted 25 October 2013 identify the members of the Nimrod gene family in the malaria mosquito, Anopheles gambiae , and to assess their role in immunity. We identified and sequenced three members of this gene family, herein Keywords: named draper, nimrod and eater, which are the orthologs of D. melanogaster draper, nimB2 and eater, Anopheles gambiae Mosquito respectively. The three genes are