Kim Dennis
Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Dis Model Mech. 2008 Nov-Dec;1(4-5):205-8. doi: 10.1242/dmm.000265.
The genetic analysis of mechanisms of pathogen resistance in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has revealed a role for evolutionarily conserved signaling pathways that are required for innate immunity in a wide range of organisms, from worms to mammals. C. elegans represents one of the more simple host organisms in which mechanisms of host defense can be dissected, and the use of C. elegans presents the researcher with a wide array of genetic and genomic tools to probe the host-pathogen interface. The study of host defense mechanisms in C. elegans continues to provide an ancient evolutionary perspective on innate immunity, which may generate insights into the conserved processes in phylogenetically diverse host organisms, including humans.
对线虫秀丽隐杆线虫病原体抗性机制的遗传分析揭示了进化保守信号通路的作用,这些信号通路是从蠕虫到哺乳动物等广泛生物体先天免疫所必需的。秀丽隐杆线虫是一种较为简单的宿主生物体,其宿主防御机制可以被剖析,使用秀丽隐杆线虫为研究人员提供了大量遗传和基因组工具来探究宿主 - 病原体界面。对秀丽隐杆线虫宿主防御机制的研究继续为先天免疫提供古老的进化视角,这可能会为包括人类在内的系统发育上不同的宿主生物体中的保守过程带来见解。