Infection of Drosophila melanogaster by Tubulinosema kingi: stage-specific susceptibility and within-host proliferation.

Despite its importance as a model organism very little is known about the interaction between Drosophila and its microsporidian pathogens. Here we report on the relative susceptibility of Drosophila melanogaster life history stages to infection by Tubulinosema kingi, and on patterns of pathogen prol...

詳細記述

書誌詳細
主要な著者: Vijendravarma, R, Godfray, H, Kraaijeveld, A
フォーマット: Journal article
言語:English
出版事項: 2008
その他の書誌記述
要約:Despite its importance as a model organism very little is known about the interaction between Drosophila and its microsporidian pathogens. Here we report on the relative susceptibility of Drosophila melanogaster life history stages to infection by Tubulinosema kingi, and on patterns of pathogen proliferation. We find that only larvae can be infected, and that this susceptibility decreases with larval age. Following infection, the pathogen shows little subsequent proliferation in larvae, a limited amount in pupae while it replicates greatly in adults. We present evidence that the host launches a cellular immune response after infection with the pathogen, although its effectiveness remains to be demonstrated.