Drosomycin is an antifungal peptide from Drosophila melanogaster and was the first antifungal peptide isolated from insects .[ 1] Drosomycin is induced by infection by the Toll signalling pathway ,[ 2] while expression in surface epithelia like the respiratory tract is instead controlled by the immune deficiency pathway (Imd).[ 3] This means that drosomycin, alongside other antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) such as cecropins ,[ 4] [ 5] diptericin ,[ 6] drosocin ,[ 7] metchnikowin [ 8] and attacin ,[ 9] serves as a first line defence upon septic injury. However drosomycin is also expressed constitutively to a lesser extent in different tissues and throughout development.[ 10]
^ Fehlbaum P, Bulet P, Michaut L, Lagueux M, Broekaert WF, Hetru C, Hoffmann JA (December 1994). "Insect immunity. Septic injury of Drosophila induces the synthesis of a potent antifungal peptide with sequence homology to plant antifungal peptides" . The Journal of Biological Chemistry . 269 (52): 33159–63. doi :10.1016/S0021-9258(20)30111-3 . PMID 7806546 .
^ Lemaitre B, Nicolas E, Michaut L, Reichhart JM, Hoffmann JA (September 1996). "The dorsoventral regulatory gene cassette spätzle/Toll/cactus controls the potent antifungal response in Drosophila adults" . Cell . 86 (6): 973–83. doi :10.1016/S0092-8674(00)80172-5 . PMID 8808632 . S2CID 10736743 .
^ Zhang ZT, Zhu SY (October 2009). "Drosomycin, an essential component of antifungal defence in Drosophila" . Insect Molecular Biology . 18 (5): 549–56. doi :10.1111/j.1365-2583.2009.00907.x . PMID 19754735 .
^ Kylsten P, Samakovlis C, Hultmark D (January 1990). "The cecropin locus in Drosophila; a compact gene cluster involved in the response to infection" . The EMBO Journal . 9 (1): 217–24. doi :10.1002/j.1460-2075.1990.tb08098.x . PMC 551649 . PMID 2104802 .
^ Tryselius Y, Samakovlis C, Kimbrell DA, Hultmark D (February 1992). "CecC, a cecropin gene expressed during metamorphosis in Drosophila pupae" . European Journal of Biochemistry . 204 (1): 395–9. doi :10.1111/j.1432-1033.1992.tb16648.x . PMID 1740152 .
^ Wicker C, Reichhart JM, Hoffmann D, Hultmark D, Samakovlis C, Hoffmann JA (December 1990). "Insect immunity. Characterization of a Drosophila cDNA encoding a novel member of the diptericin family of immune peptides" . The Journal of Biological Chemistry . 265 (36): 22493–8. doi :10.1016/S0021-9258(18)45732-8 . PMID 2125051 .
^ Bulet P, Dimarcq JL, Hetru C, Lagueux M, Charlet M, Hegy G, et al. (July 1993). "A novel inducible antibacterial peptide of Drosophila carries an O-glycosylated substitution" . The Journal of Biological Chemistry . 268 (20): 14893–7. doi :10.1016/S0021-9258(18)82417-6 . PMID 8325867 .
^ Levashina EA, Ohresser S, Bulet P, Reichhart JM, Hetru C, Hoffmann JA (October 1995). "Metchnikowin, a novel immune-inducible proline-rich peptide from Drosophila with antibacterial and antifungal properties" . European Journal of Biochemistry . 233 (2): 694–700. doi :10.1111/j.1432-1033.1995.694_2.x . PMID 7588819 .
^ Asling B, Dushay MS, Hultmark D (April 1995). "Identification of early genes in the Drosophila immune response by PCR-based differential display: the Attacin A gene and the evolution of attacin-like proteins". Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology . 25 (4): 511–8. doi :10.1016/0965-1748(94)00091-C . PMID 7742836 .
^ Ferrandon D, Jung AC, Criqui M, Lemaitre B, Uttenweiler-Joseph S, Michaut L, et al. (August 1998). "A drosomycin-GFP reporter transgene reveals a local immune response in Drosophila that is not dependent on the Toll pathway" . The EMBO Journal . 17 (5): 1217–27. doi :10.1093/emboj/17.5.1217 . PMC 1170470 . PMID 9482719 .