Affiliated Hospital of Southwest University, the Ninth People's Hospital of Chongqing, Chongqing, China.
Medical Research Institute, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
Front Immunol. 2022 Apr 6;13:856457. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.856457. eCollection 2022.
Insects are by far the most abundant and diverse living organisms on earth and are frequently prone to microbial attacks. In other to counteract and overcome microbial invasions, insects have in an evolutionary way conserved and developed immune defense mechanisms such as Toll, immune deficiency (Imd), and JAK/STAT signaling pathways leading to the expression of antimicrobial peptides. These pathways have accessory immune effector mechanisms, such as phagocytosis, encapsulation, melanization, nodulation, RNA interference (RNAi), lysis, autophagy, and apoptosis. However, pathogens evolved strategies that circumvent host immune response following infections, which may have helped insects further sophisticate their immune response mechanisms. The involvement of ncRNAs in insect immunity is undeniable, and several excellent studies or reviews have investigated and described their roles in various insects. However, the functional analyses of ncRNAs in insects upon pathogen attacks are not exhaustive as novel ncRNAs are being increasingly discovered in those organisms. This article gives an overview of the main insect signaling pathways and effector mechanisms activated by pathogen invaders and summarizes the latest findings of the immune modulation role of both insect- and pathogen-encoded ncRNAs, especially miRNAs and lncRNAs during insect-pathogen crosstalk.
昆虫是地球上最丰富和最多样化的生物,经常容易受到微生物的攻击。为了对抗和克服微生物的入侵,昆虫在进化过程中保守和发展了免疫防御机制,如 Toll、免疫缺陷(Imd)和 JAK/STAT 信号通路,导致抗菌肽的表达。这些通路具有辅助免疫效应机制,如吞噬作用、包裹作用、黑化作用、结节形成、RNA 干扰(RNAi)、裂解作用、自噬作用和细胞凋亡。然而,病原体进化出了在感染后规避宿主免疫反应的策略,这可能帮助昆虫进一步完善其免疫反应机制。ncRNAs 在昆虫免疫中的参与是不可否认的,许多优秀的研究或综述已经研究并描述了它们在各种昆虫中的作用。然而,由于在这些生物体中不断发现新的 ncRNAs,ncRNAs 对昆虫在病原体攻击时的功能分析还不全面。本文概述了主要的昆虫信号通路和效应机制,这些机制被病原体入侵者激活,并总结了昆虫和病原体编码的 ncRNAs,特别是 miRNA 和 lncRNAs,在昆虫-病原体相互作用过程中免疫调节作用的最新发现。