| Summary: | The signaling pathways that control intestinal
development, regeneration and disease show a high
degree of conservation between Drosophila and mammals.
The gut epithelia of Drosophila provide protection against
invasion of microorganisms through production of reactive
oxygen species (ROS) and antimicrobial peptides (AMPs).
Although Drosophila gut immunity has been extensively
studied, the specific responses to Gram-positive bacteria,
fungi and toxic compounds are not fully understood. To
identify the physiological role of genes involved in host
defense we studied Drosophila mutants in antifungal
genes identified previously and tested their survival upon
feeding with various pathogens and toxic compounds.
The results showed that several mutants displayed
decreased viability compared with wild-type flies, and
the lower survival rates were attributed to morphological
change and excessive cell death in mutant guts. Thus, we
identified several new Drosophila genes (spen, jumeau,
inv, DDB1 and shg) required for intestinal homeostasis or
stress responses.
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