Identification of Drosophila Mutants Affecting Defense to an Entomopathogenic Fungus

Fungi cause the majority of insect disease. However, to date attempts to model host-fungal interactions with Drosophila have focused on opportunistic human pathogens. Here, we performed a screen of 2,613 mutant Drosophila lines to identify host genes affecting susceptibility to the natural insect pathogen Metarhizium anisopliae (Ma549). Overall, 241 (9.22%) mutant lines had altered resistance to Ma549. Life spans ranged from 3.0 to 6.2 days, with females being more susceptible than males in all lines. Speed of kill correlated with within-host growth and onset of sporulation, but total spore production is decoupled from host genotypes. Results showed that mutations affected the ability of Drosophila to restrain rather than tolerate infections and suggested trade-offs between antifungal and antibacterial genes affecting cuticle and gut structural barriers. Approximately, 13% of mutations where in genes previously associated with host pathogen interactions. These encoded fast-acting immune responses including coagulation, phagocytosis, encapsulation and melanization but not the slow-response induction of anti-fungal peptides. The non-immune genes impact a wide variety of biological functions, including behavioral traits. Many have human orthologs already implicated in human disorders; while others were mutations in protein and non-protein coding genes for which disease resistance was the first biological annotation.