Symbiont-induced odorant binding proteins mediate insect host hematopoiesis

• Published in: eLife Vol. 6
• Main Authors: Benoit, Joshua B, Vigneron, Aurélien, Broderick, Nichole A, Wu, Yineng, Sun, Jennifer S, Carlson, John R, Aksoy, Serap, Weiss, Brian L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England eLife Science Publications, Ltd 12-01-2017; eLife Sciences Publications Ltd; eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
• Subjects: Animals; Bacteria; Binding proteins; Blood; crystal cell; Developmental Biology and Stem Cells; Divergence; Drosophila; Females; Gene expression; Genetic engineering; Genomics; Health aspects; Hematopoiesis; Homeostasis; Immune response; Immune system; Immunology; Insect Proteins - metabolism; Insects; Larva - microbiology; Larva - physiology; Larvae; Metabolism; Molecular modelling; Odorant-binding protein; Ontology; Physiological aspects; Proteins; symbiont; Symbionts; Tsetse Flies - microbiology; Tsetse Flies - physiology; tsetse fly; Up-Regulation; Wigglesworthia - immunology; Wigglesworthia - physiology; Yeast; stem cells; hematopoiesis; developmental biology; symbiont; tsetse fly; D. melanogaster; crystal cell; odorant binding protein; immunology
• ISSN: 2050-084X; 2050-084X
• DOI: 10.7554/eLife.19535

Symbiotic bacteria assist in maintaining homeostasis of the animal immune system. However, the molecular mechanisms that underlie symbiont-mediated host immunity are largely unknown. Tsetse flies (
spp.) house maternally transmitted symbionts that regulate the development and function of their host's immune system. Herein we demonstrate that the obligate mutualist,
, up-regulates expression of
in the gut of intrauterine tsetse larvae. This process is necessary and sufficient to induce systemic expression of the hematopoietic RUNX transcription factor
and the subsequent production of crystal cells, which actuate the melanotic immune response in adult tsetse. Larval
indigenous microbiota, which is acquired from the environment, regulates an orthologous hematopoietic pathway in their host. These findings provide insight into the molecular mechanisms that underlie enteric symbiont-stimulated systemic immune system development, and indicate that these processes are evolutionarily conserved despite the divergent nature of host-symbiont interactions in these model systems.