Abstract
The mechanism underlying immune system recognition of different types of pathogens has been extensively studied over the past few decades; however, the mechanism by which healthy self-tissue evades an attack by its own immune system is less well-understood. Here, we established an autoimmune model of melanotic mass formation in Drosophila by genetically disrupting the basement membrane. We found that the basement membrane endows otherwise susceptible target tissues with self-tolerance that prevents autoimmunity, and further demonstrated that laminin is a key component for both structural maintenance and the self-tolerance checkpoint function of the basement membrane. Moreover, we found that cell integrity, as determined by cell-cell interaction and apicobasal polarity, functions as a second discrete checkpoint. Target tissues became vulnerable to blood cell encapsulation and subsequent melanization only after loss of both the basement membrane and cell integrity.
Original language | English (US) |
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Journal | PLoS genetics |
Volume | 10 |
Issue number | 10 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Oct 1 2014 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
- Molecular Biology
- Genetics
- Genetics(clinical)
- Cancer Research