Morejon Bianca, Michel Kristin
Division of Biology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66502.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2025 May 6;122(18):e2425863122. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2425863122. Epub 2025 Apr 30.
Serine protease cascades regulate key innate immune responses. Their activation cleaves a series of inactive protease zymogens, which then activate downstream effector enzymes, ensuring a rapid response. In mosquitoes, these cascades involve clip-domain serine proteases and their noncatalytic homologs (CLIPs), whose make-up and structural organization are not fully understood. Here, we systematically assessed the contribution of individual CLIPs to humoral immunity in , by performing gene knockdown of 85 of the 110 CLIPs in adult females and assessing their individual contribution to humoral immunity regulation. By coupling RNAi with assays measuring antimicrobial activity and melanization, we identified 27 immunoregulatory CLIPs. Only one CLIP contributed to both immune responses, thus providing evidence for largely distinct protease subnetworks controlling melanization and antimicrobial activity. CLIPs regulating antimicrobial activity were found to contribute to antimicrobial peptide expression and to control infection resistance, as knockdowns reduced bacterial load and improved survival. Furthermore, our analysis of CLIP gene expression unveiled a immunoregulatory mechanism reliant on protease baseline coexpression rather than infection-induced upregulation. Together, results from this study improve our understanding of immune system regulation by proteolysis and identify a layer of regulation that could be manipulated for mosquito control purposes.
丝氨酸蛋白酶级联反应调节关键的固有免疫反应。它们的激活会切割一系列无活性的蛋白酶原,这些蛋白酶原随后激活下游效应酶,确保快速反应。在蚊子中,这些级联反应涉及clip结构域丝氨酸蛋白酶及其非催化同源物(CLIPs),其组成和结构组织尚未完全了解。在这里,我们通过对成年雌性蚊子中110个CLIPs中的85个进行基因敲低,并评估它们对体液免疫调节的个体贡献,系统地评估了单个CLIPs对体液免疫的贡献。通过将RNA干扰与测量抗菌活性和黑化作用的试验相结合,我们鉴定出27个免疫调节性CLIPs。只有一个CLIP对两种免疫反应都有作用,从而为控制黑化和抗菌活性的基本不同的蛋白酶子网提供了证据。发现调节抗菌活性的CLIPs有助于抗菌肽的表达并控制感染抗性,因为敲低会降低细菌载量并提高存活率。此外,我们对CLIP基因表达的分析揭示了一种依赖于蛋白酶基线共表达而非感染诱导上调的免疫调节机制。总之,这项研究的结果提高了我们对通过蛋白水解调节免疫系统的理解,并确定了一层可用于蚊子控制目的的调节机制。