Abstract
The cellular immune response against parasitoid wasps in Drosophila involves the activation, mobilization, proliferation and differentiation of different blood cell types. Here, we have assessed the role of Edin (elevated during infection) in the immune response against the parasitoid wasp Leptopilina boulardi in Drosophila melanogaster larvae. The expression of edin was induced within hours after a wasp infection in larval fat bodies. Using tissue-specific RNAi, we show that Edin is an important determinant of the encapsulation response. Although edin expression in the fat body was required for the larvae to mount a normal encapsulation response, it was dispensable in hemocytes. Edin expression in the fat body was not required for lamellocyte differentiation, but it was needed for the increase in plasmatocyte numbers and for the release of sessile hemocytes into the hemolymph. We conclude that edin expression in the fat body affects the outcome of a wasp infection by regulating the increase of plasmatocyte numbers and the mobilization of sessile hemocytes in Drosophila larvae.
Highlights
Parasitoid wasps are natural enemies of insects such as the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster
The events leading to a successful encapsulation of parasitoid wasp eggs in the larvae of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster are insufficiently understood
We demonstrate that edin expression in the fat body is PLOS Pathogens | DOI:10.1371/journal.ppat
Summary
Parasitoid wasps are natural enemies of insects such as the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. The initial oviposition of a wasp egg triggers changes in gene expression in the fruit fly and activates both humoral and cellular defense mechanisms [2,3,4]. In the context of wasp parasitism, cellular immunity is more striking than the humoral response. The cellular immune responses are mediated by three types of blood cells, or hemocytes: plasmatocytes, lamellocytes and crystal cells (reviewed for example in [7, 8]). The main task of lamellocytes is to participate in encapsulating objects that are too large to be phagocytosed, such as the eggs of parasitoids wasps. The encapsulation of wasp eggs requires the concerted action of all three types of hemocytes [7]
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