Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 19, 2026

Inoculating Anopheles gambiae Mosquitoes with Beads to Induce and Measure the Melanization Immune Response
Published on: January 12, 2017
Differential expression of immune defences is associated with specific host-parasite interactions in insects
Carolyn Riddell1, Sally Adams, Paul Schmid-Hempel
1Department of Biology, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
Recent ecological studies in invertebrates show that the outcome of an infection is dependent on the specific pairing of host and parasite. Such specificity contrasts the long-held view that invertebrate innate immunity depends on a broad-spectrum recognition system. An important question is whether this specificity is due to the immune response rather than some other interplay between host and parasite genotypes. By measuring the expression of putative bumblebee homologues of antimicrobial peptides in response to infection by their gut trypanosome Crithidia bombi, we demonstrate that expression differences are associated with the specific interactions.
Related Concept Videos
Microbial Interactions: Parasitism
Malaria
Transduction
Frequency-dependent Selection
Colonisation of Pathogens
Symbiosis

