Receptors for innate pathogen defence in insects are normal activation receptors for specific immune responses in mammals.

The Toll genes code for activation receptors for innate microbial defence in insects and have recently been found to code for the Lps receptor in murine B lymphocytes. In this study, I will present evidence to show that this family of receptors are responsible for induction of specific thymus-independent immune responses in mice. T cells do not possess these pattern-recognizing receptors, but they possess structures capable of delivering activation signals to these receptors on B cells.