Discovery and characterization of two Nimrod superfamily members in Anopheles gambiae
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Anti-bacterial proteins in mosquitoes are known to play an important modulatory role on immune responses to infections with human pathogens including malaria parasites. In this study we characterized two members of the Anopheles gambiae Nimrod superfamily, namely AgNimB2 and AgEater. We confirm that current annotation of the An. gambiae genome incorrectly identifies AgNimB2 and AgEater as a single gene, AGAP009762. Through in silico and experimental approaches, it has been shown that AgNimB2 is a secreted protein that mediates phagocytosis of Staphylococcus aureus but not of Escherichia coli bacteria. We also reveal that this function does not involve a direct interaction of AgNimB2 with S. aureus. Therefore, AgNimB2 may act downstream of complement-like pathway activation, first requiring bacterial opsonization. In addition, it has been shown that AgNimB2 has an anti-Plasmodium effect. Conversely, AgEater is a membrane-bound protein that either functions redundantly or is dispensable for phagocytosis of E. coli or S. aureus. Our study provides insights into the role of members of the complex Nimrod superfamily in An. gambiae, the most important African vector of human malaria.
Date Issued
2014-01-15
Date Acceptance
2014-01-01
Citation
Pathogens and Global Health, 2014, 107 (8), pp.463-474
ISSN
2047-7724
Publisher
Taylor and Francis
Start Page
463
End Page
474
Journal / Book Title
Pathogens and Global Health
Volume
107
Issue
8
Copyright Statement
© W. S. Maney & Son Ltd 2013
MORE OpenChoice articles are open access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License 3.0
MORE OpenChoice articles are open access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License 3.0
License URL
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000335056200153&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Parasitology
Tropical Medicine
Anopheles gambiae
Innate immunity
Microbiota
Phagocytosis
Nimrod superfamily
NIM repeats
EGF-like repeats
GENOME-WIDE ANALYSIS
PHAGOCYTOSIS
MOSQUITO
PROTEIN
DROSOPHILA
SEQUENCE
COMPLEMENT
EXPRESSION
BACTERIAL
RECEPTOR
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2014-01-15