Field of Genetics and Development, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA.
G3 (Bethesda). 2013 May 20;3(5):827-40. doi: 10.1534/g3.112.005306.
Mating and consequent reproduction significantly reduce the ability of female Drosophila melanogaster to defend against systemic bacterial infection. The goal of the present study was to identify genes likely to inform the mechanism of this post-mating immunosuppression. We used microarrays to contrast genome-wide transcript levels in virgin vs. mated females before and after infection. Because the immunosuppressive effect of mating is contingent on the presence of a germline in females, we repeated the entire experiment by using female mutants that do not form a germline. We found that multiple genes involved in egg production show reduced expression in response to infection, and that this reduction is stronger in virgins than it is in mated females. In germline-less females, expression of egg-production genes was predictably low and not differentially affected by infection. We also identified several immune responsive genes that are differentially induced after infection in virgins vs. mated females. Immune genes affected by mating status and egg production genes altered by infection are candidates to inform the mechanism of the trade-off between mating and immune defense.
交配和随后的繁殖会显著降低雌性黑腹果蝇抵抗系统性细菌感染的能力。本研究的目的是鉴定可能阐明交配后免疫抑制机制的基因。我们使用微阵列技术比较了感染前后处女蝇和交配后雌性蝇的全基因组转录水平。由于交配的免疫抑制作用取决于雌性生殖系的存在，我们通过使用不形成生殖系的雌性突变体重复了整个实验。我们发现，多个与产卵有关的基因的表达水平因感染而降低，而且这种降低在处女蝇中比在交配后的雌性蝇中更为明显。在没有生殖系的雌性蝇中，产卵基因的表达水平较低，且不受感染的影响。我们还鉴定了一些免疫反应基因，它们在处女蝇和交配后的雌性蝇中感染后差异诱导。受交配状态影响的免疫基因和受感染改变的产卵基因是阐明交配和免疫防御之间权衡机制的候选基因。
