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Article Dans Une Revue Frontiers in Immunology Année : 2012

The Origin and Function of Anti-Fungal Peptides in C. elegans: Open Questions

Résumé

While innate immunity has been studied in insects since the time of Pasteur and Metchnikoff (Brey, 1998), research into nematode immune defenses was initiated only comparatively recently (Kurz and Ewbank, 2003). In the mid 1990s, through a biochemical approach, Yusuke Kato was able to isolate an antibacterial activity from the body fluid of the parasitic nematode Ascaris suum. This activity was ascribed to A. suum antibacterial factor (ASABF), a peptide that is particularly potent against Gram-positive bacteria (Kato, 1995). The subsequent molecular characterization of ASABF allowed the identification of six orthologous "ABF" peptides in the model nematode C. elegans, one of which, ABF-2 displays in vitro microbicidal activity against a range of bacteria and fungi (Kato and Komatsu, 1996; Kato et al., 2002; Zhang and Kato, 2003). The six ABF peptides were immediately recognized as sharing features with defensins, placing them in the class of cysteine-stabilized α-helix and β-sheet (CSαβ) peptides, the most widespread and conserved class of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs; Zhu, 2008). The constitutive expression of abf-1 and abf-2, the best characterized of the six corresponding genes in C. elegans, overlaps in the pharynx (Kato et al., 2002); they are likely to contribute to the breakdown of the microbes that form the nematode's normal diet. Although they undoubtedly act upon both bacteria and fungi, here, we consider only their potential role in anti-fungal defenses. Both abf-1 and abf-2 are up-regulated by infection with the fungus Cryptococcus neoformans (Means et al., 2009), while the expression of abf-1 but not of abf-2 is induced by infection with the natural fungal pathogens Drechmeria coni

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Immunité innée
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hal-03374895 , version 1 (12-10-2021)

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Nathalie Pujol, Paul A Davis, Jonathan J Ewbank. The Origin and Function of Anti-Fungal Peptides in C. elegans: Open Questions. Frontiers in Immunology, 2012, 3, pp.237. ⟨10.3389/fimmu.2012.00237⟩. ⟨hal-03374895⟩
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