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Originally published in Science Express on 18 August 2005
Science 16 September 2005:
Vol. 309. no. 5742, pp. 1874 - 1878
DOI: 10.1126/science.1116887
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Reports

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

Fiona L. Watson,* Roland Püttmann-Holgado,* Franziska Thomas,{dagger} David L. Lamar,{ddagger} Michael Hughes, Masahiro Kondo, Vivienne I. Rebel,§ Dietmar Schmucker||

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 immunoglobulin (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.

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

Published online 18 August 2005

Include this information when citing this paper.

* These authors contributed equally to this work.

{dagger} Present address: Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma KG, 88397 Biberach, Germany.

{ddagger} Present address: Department of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.

§ Present address: Children's Cancer Research Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA.

|| To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: dietmar_schmucker{at}dfci.harvard.edu

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