Journal
DISEASE MODELS & MECHANISMS
Volume 9, Issue 6, Pages 697-705Publisher
COMPANY BIOLOGISTS LTD
DOI: 10.1242/dmm.022665
Keywords
Muscle; Drosophila; Zebrafish; Infection; Immunity; Anti-microbial peptides
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Funding
- Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, India
- Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Ministry of Human Resource Development, India
- Indian University Grants Commission Departmental Research Support
- Department of Science and Technology Fund for Improvement of S&T Infrastructure in Higher Educational Institutions
- Indian Institute of Science
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Muscle contraction brings about movement and locomotion in animals. However, muscles have also been implicated in several atypical physiological processes including immune response. The role of muscles in immunity and the mechanism involved has not yet been deciphered. In this paper, using Drosophila indirect flight muscles (IFMs) as a model, we show that muscles are immune-responsive tissues. Flies with defective IFMs are incapable of mounting a potent humoral immune response. Upon immune challenge, the IFMs produce anti-microbial peptides (AMPs) through the activation of canonical signaling pathways, and these IFM-synthesized AMPs are essential for survival upon infection. The trunk muscles of zebrafish, a vertebrate model system, also possess the capacity to mount an immune response against bacterial infections, thus establishing that immune responsiveness of muscles is evolutionarily conserved. Our results suggest that physiologically fit muscles might boost the innate immune response of an individual.
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