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Anopheles gambiae Ag‐STAT, a new insect member of the STAT family, is activated in response to bacterial infection
Author(s) -
BarillasMury Carolina,
Han YeonSoo,
Seeley Douglas,
Kafatos Fotis C.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
the embo journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 7.484
H-Index - 392
eISSN - 1460-2075
pISSN - 0261-4189
DOI - 10.1093/emboj/18.4.959
Subject(s) - biology , stat , anopheles gambiae , insect , microbiology and biotechnology , signal transduction , immunology , malaria , botany , stat3
A new insect member of the STAT family of transcription factors (Ag‐STAT) has been cloned from the human malaria vector Anopheles gambiae . The domain involved in DNA interaction and the SH2 domain are well conserved. Ag‐STAT is most similar to Drosophila D‐STAT and to vertebrate STATs 5 and 6, constituting a proposed ancient class A of the STAT family. The mRNA is expressed at all developmental stages, and the protein is present in hemocytes, pericardial cells, midgut, skeletal muscle and fat body cells. There is no evidence of transcriptional activation following bacterial challenge. However, bacterial challenge results in nuclear translocation of Ag‐STAT protein in fat body cells and induction of DNA‐binding activity that recognizes a STAT target site. In vitro treatment with pervanadate (vanadate and H 2 O 2 ) translocates Ag‐STAT to the nucleus in midgut epithelial cells. This is the first evidence of direct participation of the STAT pathway in immune responses in insects.