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Selected Works of Meredith Protas
Article
Identification of cytoskeletal regulatory proteins required for efficient phagocytosis in Drosophila
Microbes and Infection (2003)
  • Alan Pearson, Laboratory of Developmental Immunology, Department of Pediatrics, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School
  • Katalin Baksa, Laboratory of Developmental Immunology, Department of Pediatrics, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School
  • Mika Rämet, Laboratory of Developmental Immunology, Department of Pediatrics, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School
  • Meredith E. Protas, Laboratory of Developmental Immunology, Department of Pediatrics, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School
  • Mary McKee, Program in Membrane Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School
  • Dennis Brown, Program in Membrane Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School
  • R. Alan B. Ezekowitz, Laboratory of Developmental Immunology, Department of Pediatrics, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School
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Abstract
Phagocytosis is a complex and apparently evolutionarily conserved process that plays a central role in the immune response to infection. By ultrastructural and functional criteria, Drosophila hemocyte (macrophage) phagocytosis resembles mammalian phagocytosis. Using a non-saturated forward genetic screen for larval hemocyte phagocytosis mutants, D-SCAR and profilin were identified as important regulators of phagocytosis in Drosophila. In both hemocytes ex vivo and the macrophage-like S2 cell line, lack of D-SCAR significantly decreased phagocytosis of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. In contrast, profilin mutant hemocytes exhibited increased phagocytic activity. Analysis of double mutants suggests that D-SCAR and profilin interact during phagocytosis. Finally, RNA interference studies in S2 cells indicated that the D-SCAR homolog D-WASp also participates in phagocytosis. This study demonstrates that Drosophila provides a viable model system in which to dissect the complex interactions that regulate phagocytosis.
Keywords
  • Cytoskeleton,
  • Drosophila,
  • Innate immunity,
  • Phagocytosis
Disciplines
Publication Date
August, 2003
DOI
10.1016/S1286-4579(03)00157-6
Citation Information
Alan Pearson, Katalin Baksa, Mika Rämet, Meredith E. Protas, et al.. "Identification of cytoskeletal regulatory proteins required for efficient phagocytosis in Drosophila" Microbes and Infection Vol. 5 Iss. 10 (2003) p. 815 - 824 ISSN: 1286-4579
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/meredith-protas/10/