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Molecular and Cellular Biology, January 2004, p. 172-185, Vol. 24, No. 1
0270-7306/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/MCB.24.1.172-185.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

The Homeobox Gene Caudal Regulates Constitutive Local Expression of Antimicrobial Peptide Genes in Drosophila Epithelia

Ji-Hwan Ryu,1,{dagger} Ki-Bum Nam,1,{dagger} Chun-Taek Oh,1 Hyuck-Jin Nam,1 Sung-Hee Kim,1 Joo-Heon Yoon,2 Je-Kyeong Seong,3 Mi-Ae Yoo,4 In-Hwan Jang,1,5 Paul T. Brey,5 and Won-Jae Lee1*

Division of Molecular Life Science and Center for Cell Signaling Research, Ewha Womans University,1 Brain Korea 21 Program for Medical Science, Yonsei University College of Medicine,2 Department of Veterinary Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul,3 Department of Molecular Biology, Pusan National University, Pusan, South Korea,4 Laboratoire de Biochimie et Biologie Moléculaire des Insectes, Institut Pasteur, Paris 75724, France5

Received 23 June 2003/ Returned for modification 2 September 2003/ Accepted 9 October 2003

In Drosophila melanogaster, although the NF-{kappa}B transcription factors play a pivotal role in the inducible expression of innate immune genes, such as antimicrobial peptide genes, the exact regulatory mechanism of the tissue-specific constitutive expression of these genes in barrier epithelia is largely unknown. Here, we show that the Drosophila homeobox gene product Caudal functions as the innate immune transcription modulator that is responsible for the constitutive local expression of antimicrobial peptides cecropin and drosomycin in a tissue-specific manner. These results suggest that certain epithelial tissues have evolved a unique constitutive innate immune strategy by recruiting a developmental "master control" gene.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Division of Molecular Life Science, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, South Korea. Phone: 82-23277-3349. Fax: 82-23277-4384. E-mail: lwj{at}ewha.ac.kr.

{dagger} J.-H.R. and K.-B.N. contributed equally to this work.

Molecular and Cellular Biology, January 2004, p. 172-185, Vol. 24, No. 1
0022-538X/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/MCB.24.1.172-185.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Ryu, J.-H., Kim, S.-H., Lee, H.-Y., Bai, J. Y., Nam, Y.-D., Bae, J.-W., Lee, D. G., Shin, S. C., Ha, E.-M., Lee, W.-J. (2008). Innate Immune Homeostasis by the Homeobox Gene Caudal and Commensal-Gut Mutualism in Drosophila. Science 319: 777-782 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Choi, Y.-J., Choi, T.-Y., Yamaguchi, M., Matsukage, A., Kim, Y.-S., Yoo, M.-A. (2004). Transcriptional regulation of the Drosophila caudal homeobox gene by DRE/DREF. Nucleic Acids Res 32: 3734-3742 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


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