Synergy and remarkable specificity of antimicrobial peptides in vivo using a systematic knockout approach
- École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland
- Université Paris-Saclay, France
- National Institute of Genetics, Japan
Abstract
Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are host-encoded antibiotics that combat invading microorganisms. These short, cationic peptides have been implicated in many biological processes, primarily involving innate immunity. In vitro studies have shown AMPs kill bacteria and fungi at physiological concentrations, but little validation has been done in vivo. We utilised CRISPR gene editing to delete all known immune inducible AMPs of Drosophila, namely: 4 Attacins, 4 Cecropins, 2 Diptericins, Drosocin, Drosomycin, Metchnikowin and Defensin. Using individual and multiple knockouts, including flies lacking all 14 AMP genes, we characterize the in vivo function of individual and groups of AMPs against diverse bacterial and fungal pathogens. We found that Drosophila AMPs act primarily against Gram-negative bacteria and fungi, contributing either additively or synergistically. We also describe remarkable specificity wherein certain AMPs contribute the bulk of microbicidal activity against specific pathogens, providing functional demonstrations of highly specific AMP-pathogen interactions in an in vivo setting.
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Data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files. Source data has been provided for Figure 2.
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The authors declare that there was no funding for this work
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© 2019, Hanson et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Synergy and remarkable specificity of antimicrobial peptides in vivo using a systematic knockout approach
eLife 8:e44341.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44341
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