生物谷報道：在6月21日的《科學(xué)》（Science）上,，科學(xué)家宣布他們發(fā)現(xiàn)了一種蚊子——Aedes aegypti的免疫系統(tǒng)基因能幫助預(yù)防病毒在人類中傳播,。
科學(xué)家相信,，這種蚊子的免疫系統(tǒng)對于阻止造成黃熱病和登革熱的病毒傳播非常關(guān)鍵——這些疾病每年在全世界范圍內(nèi)感染超過5000萬人。
科學(xué)家確定了組成Aedes蚊子免疫系統(tǒng)的超過350個基因,，結(jié)果發(fā)現(xiàn)這些基因進化的速度比基因組中的其它基因快得多,。而進一步確認這些基因中哪些對病毒的傳播有影響將幫助醫(yī)生找到對抗這些疾病的新方法,。其中一個方法是影響這些基因的活性,，從而使蚊子更有效的消滅病毒，防止它們傳播給人類,。
帝國學(xué)院的科學(xué)家在之前的研究中曾證實,，其它蚊子擁有強大的免疫系統(tǒng)，它們能阻止瘧原蟲的傳播,。而小組需要進一步確認,，這些新發(fā)現(xiàn)的基因是否能為蚊子對抗病毒起到同樣作用。
由帝國學(xué)院博士生Robert Waterhouse領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的這一國際小組主要比較了Aedes蚊子,、無害的果蠅以及傳播瘧疾的Anopheles蚊子的免疫系統(tǒng)基因差異,。當比較到兩種不同的蚊子時，科學(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)在控制它們的免疫系統(tǒng)的基因方面存在一些相似性,，但是也有很大差異,。小組的目標是尋找究竟是哪些基因的差異導(dǎo)致其中一種蚊子傳播登革熱和黃熱病，而另一種傳播瘧疾,。
小組成員Christophides博士說：“這表明昆蟲的免疫系統(tǒng)似乎是針對面對的不同病原體而以不同速度進化著的,。” （援引教育部科技發(fā)展中心）
英文原文鏈接：http://www.physorg.com/news101654981.html
原始出處：
Science 22 June 2007:
Vol. 316. no. 5832, pp. 1738 - 1743
DOI: 10.1126/science.1139862
Evolutionary Dynamics of Immune-Related Genes and Pathways in Disease-Vector Mosquitoes
Robert M. Waterhouse,1 Evgenia V. Kriventseva,2,3 Stephan Meister,1 Zhiyong Xi,4 Kanwal S. Alvarez,5 Lyric C. Bartholomay,6 Carolina Barillas-Mury,7 Guowu Bian,5 Stephanie Blandin,8 Bruce M. Christensen,9 Yuemei Dong,4 Haobo Jiang,10 Michael R. Kanost,11 Anastasios C. Koutsos,1 Elena A. Levashina,8 Jianyong Li,12 Petros Ligoxygakis,13 Robert M. MacCallum,1 George F. Mayhew,9 Antonio Mendes,1 Kristin Michel,1 Mike A. Osta,1 Susan Paskewitz,14 Sang Woon Shin,5 Dina Vlachou,1 Lihui Wang,13 Weiqi Wei,15,16 Liangbiao Zheng,15,17 Zhen Zou,10 David W. Severson,18 Alexander S. Raikhel,5 Fotis C. Kafatos,1* George Dimopoulos,4* Evgeny M. Zdobnov,3,19,1* George K. Christophides1*
Mosquitoes are vectors of parasitic and viral diseases of immense importance for public health. The acquisition of the genome sequence of the yellow fever and Dengue vector, Aedes aegypti (Aa), has enabled a comparative phylogenomic analysis of the insect immune repertoire: in Aa, the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae (Ag), and the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster (Dm). Analysis of immune signaling pathways and response modules reveals both conservative and rapidly evolving features associated with different functional gene categories and particular aspects of immune reactions. These dynamics reflect in part continuous readjustment between accommodation and rejection of pathogens and suggest how innate immunity may have evolved.
1 Division of Cell and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK.
2 Department of Structural Biology and Bioinformatics, University of Geneva Medical School, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland.
3 Department of Genetic Medicine and Development, University of Geneva Medical School, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland.
4 Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
5 Department of Entomology and the Institute for Integrative Genome Biology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA.
6 Department of Entomology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA.
7 Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, Twinbrook III Facility, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD 20892–8132, USA.
8 CNRS Unité Propre de Recherche 9022, Avenir-Inserm, Institut de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, Strasbourg, France.
9 Department of Animal Health and Biomedical Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
10 Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA.
11 Department of Biochemistry, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA.
12 Department of Biochemistry, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA.
13 Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
14 Russell Labs, Department of Entomology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
15 Yale University School of Medicine, Epidemiology, and Public Health, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.
16 Fujian Center for Prevention and Control of Occupational Disease and Chemical Poisoning, Fujian, China.
17 Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Shanghai, China.
18 Department of Biological Sciences, Center for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN46556, USA.
19 Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland.
* These authors contributed equally to this work.
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: [email protected] (G.K.C.); [email protected] (E.M.Z.); [email protected] (F.C.K.)
