Summary of Seminar

Bleeding larvae and bark masses-studying immunity in the fruit fly, Drosophilia melanogaster
Seminar given by: Mitch Dushay Ph.D

The fruit fly is an excellent model organism in that studies performed on this species can lead to insights on other species. Dr. Dushay’s seminar discussed fruit fly immunity; more specifically the innate immune response because fruit flies are without an adaptive immune response. There are six main innate immune responses in the fruit fly; epithelial barriers, clotting, phagocytosis, melanization, encapsulation, and antimicrobial proteins. Dr. Dushay focused on coagulation which is the clotting of blood in order to seal off the wound and trap the microbes that may have entered.
In order to examine coagulation; hemolymph from the fruit fly was bled onto wells and using a pull out assay was extracted from the well. In wildtype fruit flies the “coagulate” was raised approx. 1 cm showing good durability. Two clotting factors that cause coagulation were focused on; Hml and CG15825 (substrate of transglutaminase); CG15825 was examined and stretched to a level of approx. 1.5 cm, which could be a component of the good durability. Phenoloxidase (cross-linked during wound healing and closure) was experimented with and it was concluded that it is not needed for the primary soft clot but if present, makes the clot harder, more brittle, and less ductile.
Coagulation is an important immune defense that has been lagging knowledge compared to others, such as the humoral response. As research continues, the fruit fly will provide better insight as to what constitutes clotting, how it forms, and the role it really plays in the immune response. The more knowledge that is gained about the fruit flies innate immune response, the more knowledge we can apply to our own innate immune response and be able to analyze and interpret what’s going on in the human body. This research will lead to more in depth experimenting on the innate immune response and then it can be translated into ways at which will help the health of the public.