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Assessing the Cellular Immune Response of the Fruit Fly, Drosophila melanogaster, Using an In Vivo Phagocytosis Assay
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Nimrod, a putative phagocytosis receptor with EGF repeats in Drosophila plasmatocytes

Eva Kurucz1, Róbert Márkus, János Zsámboki

  • 1Institute of Genetics, Biological Research Center of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, H-6701 Szeged, Hungary.

Current Biology : CB
|March 17, 2007
PubMed

Insights

Researchers identified Nimrod C1 (NimC1), a protein on Drosophila plasmatocytes, crucial for bacterial phagocytosis. Suppressing NimC1 reduced Staphylococcus aureus uptake, while overexpression enhanced it in S2 cells.

Area of Science:

  • * Molecular and Cellular Biology
  • * Immunology
  • * Genetics

Background:

  • * Drosophila hemocytes, particularly plasmatocytes, are vital for immune defense, clearing microbes and apoptotic cells.
  • * Phagocytosis is a key cellular process in immunity and development.

Purpose of the Study:

  • * To identify and characterize novel proteins involved in phagocytosis in Drosophila.
  • * To investigate the role of the identified protein, Nimrod C1 (NimC1), in bacterial phagocytosis.

Main Methods:

  • * Identification of NimC1 on plasmatocyte surfaces.
  • * Gene silencing and overexpression experiments in Drosophila plasmatocytes and S2 cells.
  • * Analysis of bacterial phagocytosis rates using Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli.

Main Results:

  • * NimC1 was identified as a single-pass transmembrane protein with EGF-like repeats.
  • * Suppression of NimC1 inhibited Staphylococcus aureus phagocytosis by plasmatocytes.
  • * Overexpression of NimC1 enhanced the phagocytosis of both Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli in S2 cells.

Conclusions:

  • * Nimrod C1 (NimC1) is a critical protein mediating bacterial phagocytosis in Drosophila plasmatocytes.
  • * NimC1 represents a conserved phagocytosis receptor, belonging to a superfamily with human homologs.

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