School of Life Sciences, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China.
Institute of Biosciences and Applications, National Centre for Scientific Research Demokritos, Athens, Greece.
Arch Insect Biochem Physiol. 2024 Aug;116(4):e22130. doi: 10.1002/arch.22130.
Toll receptors are important regulators of insects' innate immune system which, upon binding of pathogen molecules, activate a conserved signal transduction cascade known as the Toll pathway. RNA interference (RNAi) is a powerful tool to study the function of genes via reverse genetics. However, due to the reported refractory of RNAi efficiency in lepidopteran insects, successful reports of silencing of Toll receptors in the silkworm Bombyx mori have not been reported yet. In this study, a Toll receptor of the silkworm Bombyx Toll9-2 (BmToll9-2) was cloned and its expression and function were analyzed. The results showed that BmToll9-2 contains an ectodomain (ECD) with a signal peptide and nine leucine-rich repeats, a transmembrane helix, and a cytoplasmic region with a Toll/interleukin-1 domain. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that BmToll9-2 clusters with other insect Toll9 receptors and mammalian Toll-like receptor 4. Oral infection of exogenous pathogens showed that the Gram-negative bacterium Escherichia coli and its main cell wall component lipopolysaccharide (LPS), as well as the Gram-positive bacterium Staphylococcus aureus and its main cell wall component peptidoglycan, significantly induce BmToll9-2 expression in vivo. LPS also induced the expression of BmToll9-2 in BmN4 cells in vitro. These observations indicate its role as a sensor in the innate immunity to exogenous pathogens and as a pathogen-associated receptor that is responsive to LPS. RNAi of BmToll9-2 was effective in the midgut and epidermis. RNAi-mediated knock-down of BmToll9-2 reduced the weight and growth of the silkworm. Bacterial challenge following RNAi upregulated the expression of BmToll9-2 and rescued the weight differences of the silkworm, which may be related to its participation in the immune response and the regulation of the microbiota in the midgut lumen of the silkworm larvae.
Toll 受体是昆虫先天免疫系统的重要调节因子,在与病原体分子结合后,激活已知的 Toll 途径的保守信号转导级联。RNA 干扰(RNAi)是通过反向遗传学研究基因功能的强大工具。然而,由于报道称鳞翅目昆虫的 RNAi 效率存在障碍,因此尚未有关于家蚕 Bombyx mori Toll 受体沉默的成功报道。在这项研究中,克隆了家蚕 Bombyx Toll9-2(BmToll9-2)的 Toll 受体,并分析了其表达和功能。结果表明,BmToll9-2 含有一个带有信号肽和九个富含亮氨酸重复序列的细胞外结构域(ECD)、一个跨膜螺旋和一个带有 Toll/白细胞介素-1 结构域的细胞质区域。系统发育分析表明,BmToll9-2 与其他昆虫 Toll9 受体和哺乳动物 Toll 样受体 4 聚类。外源性病原体的口服感染表明,革兰氏阴性菌大肠杆菌及其主要细胞壁成分脂多糖(LPS)以及革兰氏阳性菌金黄色葡萄球菌及其主要细胞壁成分肽聚糖,显著诱导体内 BmToll9-2 的表达。LPS 还在体外诱导 BmN4 细胞中 BmToll9-2 的表达。这些观察结果表明它作为外源性病原体先天免疫的传感器和对 LPS 有反应的病原体相关受体的作用。BmToll9-2 的 RNAi 在中肠和表皮中有效。BmToll9-2 的 RNAi 介导敲低降低了家蚕的体重和生长。RNAi 介导的敲低后进行细菌攻毒,上调了 BmToll9-2 的表达,并挽救了家蚕体重的差异,这可能与其参与免疫反应和调节家蚕幼虫中肠腔微生物群有关。