Abstract
Mosquitoes use effective immune responses, including phagocytosis, to fight microbial infection. Here we show that in an Anopheles gambiae immune responsive cell line, RGD recognizing receptors play an important role in the phagocytic response, suggesting overlap between molecular components implicated in adhesion and phagocytosis. Integrins are a major class of adhesive receptors that recognize ligands containing an RGD motif. We have cloned a gene encoding a new β integrin, BINT2, and demonstrated its involvement in Escherichia coli engulfment. Based on molecular modeling, we propose a structural reason for the role of BINT2, but not BINT1, on phagocytosis of Gram-negative bacteria. Using bioinformatic tools, we have identified and compared the complete A. gambiae integrin repertoire as a prelude to a future systematic functional study.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 282-290 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology |
Volume | 36 |
Issue number | 4 SPEC. ISS. |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Apr 2006 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Anopheles gambiae
- BINT2
- Innate immunity
- Integrin
- Phagocytosis
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Biochemistry
- Molecular Biology
- Insect Science