J Innate Immun. 2018;10(4):306-314. doi: 10.1159/000489831. Epub 2018 Jun 19.
The Bomanins (Boms) are a family of a dozen secreted peptides that mediate the innate immune response governed by the Drosophila Toll receptor. We recently showed that deleting a cluster of 10 Bom genes blocks Toll-mediated defenses against a range of fungi and gram-positive bacteria. Here, we characterize the activity of individual Bom family members. We provide evidence that the Boms overlap in function and that a single Bom gene encoding a mature peptide of just 16 amino acids can act largely or entirely independent of other family members to provide phenotypic rescue in vivo. We further demonstrate that the Boms function in Drosophila humoral immunity, mediating the killing of the fungal pathogen Candida glabrata in an in vitro assay of cell-free hemolymph. In addition, we find that the level of antifungal activity both in vivo and in vitro is linked to the level of Bom gene expression. Although Toll dictates expression of the antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) drosomycin and metchnikowin, we find no evidence that Boms act by modifying the expression of the mature forms of these antifungal AMPs.
博曼因（Boms）是一个由十几个分泌肽组成的家族，介导果蝇 Toll 受体调控的固有免疫反应。我们最近发现，删除一组 10 个 Bom 基因会阻断 Toll 介导的针对多种真菌和革兰氏阳性菌的防御。在这里，我们对各个 Bom 家族成员的活性进行了特征描述。我们提供的证据表明，Boms 的功能有重叠，并且单个 Bom 基因编码的成熟肽只有 16 个氨基酸，可以在体内独立于其他家族成员发挥作用，提供表型拯救。我们进一步证明，Boms 在果蝇体液免疫中发挥作用，介导细胞外血淋巴中对真菌病原体光滑念珠菌的杀伤。此外，我们发现体内和体外的抗真菌活性水平与 Bom 基因表达水平相关。尽管 Toll 决定了抗菌肽（AMPs）drosomycin 和 metchnikowin 的表达，但我们没有发现 Bom 作用是通过修饰这些抗真菌 AMPs 的成熟形式的表达来实现的。
