Resposta imunológica da Drosophila melanogaster : uma abordagem utilizando metodologia proteómica

• Autor(a) principal: Guedes, Sofia de Morais Correia Pereira
• Data de Publicação: 2004
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10773/15269
• topic: Microbiologia molecular; Drosofilas; Bactérias patogénicas; Imunologia

Insects, including Drosophila melanogaster, are able to efficiently recognize invading intruders and to mount a potent and rapid innate immune reponse to both bacterial and fungal infections. In the last decade, the fruit fly has emerged as a promising invertebrate model to investigate innate immunity, in part because of it’s well characterized genetics. The information provided by the inumerous reports on Drosophila’s immune response indicates that a high number of genes are both up- and down-regulated, in addition to the wellknown antimicrobial peptide genes, upon immune challenge. Nevertheless, their contribution in fighting off infection has not been seriously addressed. With the application of recent advances in proteomics, a 2-DE protein map of Drosophila larvae hemolymph was constructed. A total of 105 protein spots were excised and submitted to identification by mass spectrometry, using a combination of MALDI-TOF/TOF MS and MS/MS spectra and resulting in 99 positive identifications. The list of identified protein spots includes metabolic enzymes, structural proteins, translational apparatus components, heat shock proteins and proteins involved in defence mechanisms, such as antioxidant and immunological reactions. The study of their cellular function, as well as enchaining the overall biochemical information, will contribute to a better understanding of the underlying molecular mechanisms of Drosophila’s immune response.