Ecdysone triggered PGRP‐LC expression controls Drosophila innate immunity

• Published in: The EMBO journal 2013-05, Vol.32 (11), p.1626-1638
• Main Authors: Rus, Florentina, Flatt, Thomas, Tong, Mei, Aggarwal, Kamna, Okuda, Kendi, Kleino, Anni, Yates, Elisabeth, Tatar, Marc, Silverman, Neal
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: AMPs; Animals; Bacterial diseases; Carrier Proteins - genetics; Carrier Proteins - metabolism; Cell Line; Drosophila; Drosophila - genetics; Drosophila - immunology; Drosophila - microbiology; Drosophila Proteins - genetics; Drosophila Proteins - metabolism; ecdysone; Ecdysone - metabolism; EMBO11; EMBO19; Enterobacter cloacae - physiology; GATA Transcription Factors - genetics; GATA Transcription Factors - metabolism; Gene expression; Gene Expression Regulation; Hormones; IMD pathway; Immune response; Immunity, Innate; Insects; Kaplan-Meier Estimate; Models, Molecular; Mutation; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; Pattern recognition; Pectobacterium carotovorum - physiology; PGRP‐LC; Receptors, Steroid - genetics; Receptors, Steroid - metabolism; RNA Interference; Signal Transduction; Steroid hormones; Steroids; Transcription factors; Transcription Factors - genetics; Transcription Factors - metabolism
• ISSN: 0261-4189; 1460-2075
• DOI: 10.1038/emboj.2013.100

Throughout the animal kingdom, steroid hormones have been implicated in the defense against microbial infection, but how these systemic signals control immunity is unclear. Here, we show that the steroid hormone ecdysone controls the expression of the pattern recognition receptor PGRP‐LC in Drosophila , thereby tightly regulating innate immune recognition and defense against bacterial infection. We identify a group of steroid‐regulated transcription factors as well as two GATA transcription factors that act as repressors and activators of the immune response and are required for the proper hormonal control of PGRP‐LC expression. Together, our results demonstrate that Drosophila use complex mechanisms to modulate innate immune responses, and identify a transcriptional hierarchy that integrates steroid signalling and immunity in animals. The steroid hormone ecdysone regulates the immune response and defense against bacterial infection in Drosophila by controlling the expression of the microbial sensing receptor PGRP‐LC thereby linking developmental and immune signalling systems.