McKenna C H, Asgari D, Crippen T L, Zheng L, Sherman R A, Tomberlin J K, Meisel R P, Tarone A M
Department of Entomology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA.
Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA.
Insect Mol Biol. 2022 Feb;31(1):85-100. doi: 10.1111/imb.12740. Epub 2021 Oct 17.
Antibiotic resistance is a continuing challenge in medicine. There are various strategies for expanding antibiotic therapeutic repertoires, including the use of blow flies. Their larvae exhibit strong antibiotic and antibiofilm properties that alter microbiome communities. One species, Lucilia sericata, is used to treat problematic wounds due to its debridement capabilities and its excretions and secretions that kill some pathogenic bacteria. There is much to be learned about how L. sericata interacts with microbiomes at the molecular level. To address this deficiency, gene expression was assessed after feeding exposure (1 h or 4 h) to two clinically problematic pathogens: Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii. The results identified immunity-related genes that were differentially expressed when exposed to these pathogens, as well as non-immune genes possibly involved in gut responses to bacterial infection. There was a greater response to P. aeruginosa that increased over time, while few genes responded to A. baumannii exposure, and expression was not time-dependent. The response to feeding on pathogens indicates a few common responses and features distinct to each pathogen, which is useful in improving the wound debridement therapy and helps to develop biomimetic alternatives.
抗生素耐药性一直是医学领域面临的挑战。拓展抗生素治疗方法的策略多种多样，其中包括利用绿头苍蝇。其幼虫具有强大的抗生素和抗生物膜特性，可改变微生物群落。绿蝇属的丝光绿蝇因其清创能力以及能杀死某些病原菌的排泄物和分泌物，被用于治疗有问题的伤口。关于丝光绿蝇在分子水平上如何与微生物群相互作用，仍有许多有待了解之处。为解决这一不足，在让丝光绿蝇进食暴露于两种临床上有问题的病原体（铜绿假单胞菌和鲍曼不动杆菌）1小时或4小时后，评估其基因表达。结果确定了在暴露于这些病原体时差异表达的免疫相关基因，以及可能参与肠道对细菌感染反应的非免疫基因。对铜绿假单胞菌的反应更大，且随时间增加，而对鲍曼不动杆菌暴露的反应基因很少，且表达不依赖时间。对以病原体为食的反应表明了一些共同反应以及每种病原体特有的特征，这有助于改进伤口清创治疗并助力开发仿生替代品。
