Proteomics of the Drosophila immune response

Abstract

Completion of the Drosophila genome has enabled the use of proteomic approaches for studying complex processes such as the innate immune defense against microorganisms. Microbial infection leads to the activation of responses involving changes at translational and post-translational levels. Proteomics is a tool for assessing such changes in protein expression, localization and post-translational modification. Recently, several studies have reported whole-genome analyses of the Drosophila immune response, both at the transcriptome and proteome levels, leading to a more comprehensive view of fly immunity. In this review, we describe and compare the proteomic techniques used in these analyses and discuss the results obtained by differential protein profiling of the Drosophila immune response.