Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2017 May 4;13(5):e1006277.
doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1006277. eCollection 2017 May.

Drosophila as a model for homeostatic, antibacterial, and antiviral mechanisms in the gut

Xi Liu  1 , Jeffrey J Hodgson  1   2 , Nicolas Buchon  1
Affiliations
Review

Drosophila as a model for homeostatic, antibacterial, and antiviral mechanisms in the gut

Xi Liu et al. PLoS Pathog. .
No abstract available

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Parallels between the Drosophila and mammalian gut epithelia.
(A) The fly midgut is composed of absorptive enterocytes (ECs) and secretory enteroendocrine cells (EEs) that arise from differentiation of the basally embedded intestinal stem cells (ISCs). Enteroblasts (EBs) are transient progenitors destined to differentiate into ECs. The epithelium is protected by the peritrophic matrix and thin mucus layer apically and is sheathed in a basal lamina and visceral muscle cells. (B) Similarly, the mammalian intestinal epithelium is composed of progenitor and Paneth cells residing at the base of crypts and absorptive cells (ECs) and secretory cells (EE and Goblet cells) that progress towards the apex of the villus. The mucus layer protects the gut epithelial cells from direct contact with commensal microbes. Hemocytes (A) or Neutrophils (B) transmit secreted signals to the gastrointestinal tract.
Fig 2
Fig 2. A conserved gene regulatory network controls tissue homeostasis in flies and mammals.
(A) In both flies and mammals, the gut epithelium produces immune effectors, including reactive oxygen species (ROS) and antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). Epithelial cells and immune cells secrete cytokines that stimulate tissue regeneration. The Hippo pathway is a conserved regulator of intestinal stem cell (ISC) activity. In Drosophila, activation of the JAK-STAT pathway by the cytokine Unpaired 3 (Upd3) triggers the release of epidermal growth factors (EGFs) by the stem cell niche, which then induces stem cell proliferation. JAK-STAT activation also directly stimulates ISC proliferation and differentiation. The Wingless (Wnt/Wg) pathway is a major regulator of ISC proliferation in mammals and also promotes tissue regeneration through cMyc in the infected Drosophila midgut. The dashed arrows indicate presumed activities but as yet are undefined. (B) Gut microbes and viruses coordinately stimulate a PDGF-VEGF Receptor and Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinase dependent (pvf2/PVR/ERK) antiviral response through the Immune Deficiency (Imd) pathway and Cyclin-dependent-kinase 9 (Cdk9) induction, respectively, in the midgut of Drosophila. The ERK-stimulated antiviral activities/effectors have not been determined. In addition, exogenous insulin initiates ERK mediated antiviral activity.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Buchon N, Silverman N, Cherry S. Immunity in Drosophila melanogaster—from microbial recognition to whole-organism physiology. Nat Rev Immunol. 2014;14: 796–810. doi: 10.1038/nri3763 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bonfini A, Liu X, Buchon N. From pathogens to microbiota: How Drosophila intestinal stem cells react to gut microbes. Dev Comp Immunol. 2016;64: 22–38. doi: 10.1016/j.dci.2016.02.008 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Dutta D, Dobson AJ, Houtz PL, Gläßer C, Revah J, Korzelius J, et al. Regional Cell-Specific Transcriptome Mapping Reveals Regulatory Complexity in the Adult Drosophila Midgut. Cell Rep. 2015;12: 346–358. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2015.06.009 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Cox CR, Gilmore MS. Native microbial colonization of Drosophila melanogaster and its use as a model of Enterococcus faecalis pathogenesis. Infection and Immunity. 2007;75: 1565–1576. doi: 10.1128/IAI.01496-06 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chandler J, Lang J, Bhatnagar S, Eisen J. Bacterial Communities of Diverse Drosophila Species: Ecological Context of a Host–Microbe Model System. PLoS Genet. 2011. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources