Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Published Online August 18, 2005
Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1116887

Reports

Submitted on July 4, 2005
Accepted on August 9, 2005

Extensive Diversity of Ig-Superfamily Proteins in the Immune System of Insects

Fiona L. Watson 1, Roland Püttmann-Holgado 1, Franziska Thomas 1, David L. Lamar 1, Michael Hughes 1, Masahiro Kondo 1, Vivienne I. Rebel 1, Dietmar Schmucker 1*

1 Department of Cancer Biology, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115 USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Dietmar Schmucker , E-mail: dietmar_schmucker{at}dfci.harvard.edu

The extensive somatic diversification of immune receptors is a hallmark of higher vertebrates. However, whether molecular diversity contributes to immune protection in invertebrates is unknown. We present evidence that Drosophila immune-competent cells have the potential to express more than 18,000 isoforms of the Ig-superfamily receptor Down syndrome cell adhesion molecule (Dscam). Secreted protein isoforms of Dscam were detected in the hemolymph and hemocyte-specific loss of Dscam impaired the efficiency of phagocytic uptake of bacteria, possibly due to reduced bacterial binding. Importantly, the molecular diversity of Dscam transcripts generated through a mechanism of alternative splicing is highly conserved across major insect orders, suggesting an unsuspected molecular complexity of the innate immune system of insects.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Plasticity of the immunoglobulin domain in the evolution of immunity.
J. P. Cannon (2009)
Integr. Comp. Biol.
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Anopheles Fibrinogen-related Proteins Provide Expanded Pattern Recognition Capacity against Bacteria and Malaria Parasites.
Y. Dong and G. Dimopoulos (2009)
J. Biol. Chem. 284, 9835-9844
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Highly Variable Immune-Response Proteins (185/333) from the Sea Urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus: Proteomic Analysis Identifies Diversity within and between Individuals.
N. M. Dheilly, S. V. Nair, L. C. Smith, and D. A. Raftos (2009)
J. Immunol. 182, 2203-2212
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Endodomain Diversity in the Drosophila Dscam and Its Roles in Neuronal Morphogenesis.
H.-H. Yu, J. S. Yang, J. Wang, Y. Huang, and T. Lee (2009)
J. Neurosci. 29, 1904-1914
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
CD96 Interaction with CD155 via Its First Ig-like Domain Is Modulated by Alternative Splicing or Mutations in Distal Ig-like Domains.
D. Meyer, S. Seth, J. Albrecht, M. K. Maier, L. d. Pasquier, I. Ravens, L. Dreyer, R. Burger, M. Gramatzki, R. Schwinzer, et al. (2009)
J. Biol. Chem. 284, 2235-2244
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Dscam and DSCAM: complex genes in simple animals, complex animals yet simple genes.
D. Schmucker and B. Chen (2009)
Genes & Dev. 23, 147-156
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Introduction. Ecological immunology.
H. Schulenburg, J. Kurtz, Y. Moret, and M. T Siva-Jothy (2009)
Phil Trans R Soc B 364, 3-14
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Analogies in the evolution of individual and social immunity.
S. Cremer and M. Sixt (2009)
Phil Trans R Soc B 364, 129-142
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Strain-specific priming of resistance in the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum.
O. Roth, B. M Sadd, P. Schmid-Hempel, and J. Kurtz (2009)
Proc R Soc B 276, 145-151
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Sequence Variations in 185/333 Messages from the Purple Sea Urchin Suggest Posttranscriptional Modifications to Increase Immune Diversity.
K. M. Buckley, D. P. Terwilliger, and L. C. Smith (2008)
J. Immunol. 181, 8585-8594
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The Dscam Homologue of the Crustacean Daphnia Is Diversified by Alternative Splicing Like in Insects.
D. Brites, S. McTaggart, K. Morris, J. Anderson, K. Thomas, I. Colson, T. Fabbro, T. J. Little, D. Ebert, and L. Du Pasquier (2008)
Mol. Biol. Evol. 25, 1429-1439
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Expression profiling and binding properties of fibrinogen-related proteins (FREPs), plasma proteins from the schistosome snail host Biomphalaria glabrata.
S.-M. Zhang, Yong Zeng, and E. S. Loker (2008)
Innate Immunity 14, 175-189
   Abstract »    PDF »
The Sea Urchin Genome as a Window on Function.
S. C. Materna and R. A. Cameron (2008)
Biol. Bull. 214, 266-273
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Marine Invertebrate Genome Sequences and Our Evolving Understanding of Animal Immunity.
J. P. Rast and C. Messier-Solek (2008)
Biol. Bull. 214, 274-283
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A quantitative test of the relationship between parasite dose and infection probability across different host-parasite combinations.
F. Ben-Ami, R. R Regoes, and D. Ebert (2008)
Proc R Soc B 275, 853-859
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Localization and diversity of 185/333 proteins from the purple sea urchin - unexpected protein-size range and protein expression in a new coelomocyte type.
V. Brockton, J. H. Henson, D. A. Raftos, A. J. Majeske, Y.-O. Kim, and L. C. Smith (2008)
J. Cell Sci. 121, 339-348
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Invertebrate Immune Systems Specific, Quasi-Specific, or Nonspecific?.
A. F. Rowley and A. Powell (2007)
J. Immunol. 179, 7209-7214
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Immunity genes and their orthologs: a multi-species database.
K. Rannikko, C. Ortutay, and M. Vihinen (2007)
Int. Immunol. 19, 1361-1370
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Novel Aspects of the Sperm-Associated Antigen 11 (SPAG11) Gene Organization and Expression in Cattle (Bos taurus).
M. C. W. Avellar, L. Honda, K. G. Hamil, Y. Radhakrishnan, S. Yenugu, G. Grossman, P. Petrusz, F. S. French, and S. H. Hall (2007)
Biol Reprod 76, 1103-1116
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Variation and Heritability in Immune Gene Expression by Diseased Honeybees.
L. I. Decanini, A. M. Collins, and J. D. Evans (2007)
J. Hered. 98, 195-201
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Drosophila Hemopoiesis and Cellular Immunity.
M. J. Williams (2007)
J. Immunol. 178, 4711-4716
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Evolutionary ecology of immune defence in copepods.
J. Kurtz (2007)
J. Plankton Res. 29, i27-i38
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Genomic insights into the immune system of the sea urchin..
J. P. Rast, L. C. Smith, M. Loza-Coll, T. Hibino, and G. W. Litman (2006)
Science 314, 952-956
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
TRIATOMA INFESTANS CHOOSES TO FEED UPON IMMUNE PREY.
M. M. HECHT, A. C. BUSSACOS, S. P. LOZZI, J. M. SANTANA, and A. R.L. TEIXEIRA (2006)
Am J Trop Med Hyg 75, 893-900
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Unexpected diversity displayed in cDNAs expressed by the immune cells of the purple sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus.
D. P. Terwilliger, K. M. Buckley, D. Mehta, P. G. Moorjani, and L.C. Smith (2006)
Physiol Genomics 26, 134-144
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The iStem, a Long-Range RNA Secondary Structure Element Required for Efficient Exon Inclusion in the Drosophila Dscam Pre-mRNA.
J. M. Kreahling and B. R. Graveley (2005)
Mol. Cell. Biol. 25, 10251-10260
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)