Drosophila miR-964 modulates Toll signaling pathway in response to bacterial infection

Abstract

Recent studies suggest that microRNA (miRNA) plays important roles in the control of immune response and tolerance. We previously found that the expression level of antimicrobial peptide gene Drosomycin (Drs) is decreased in miR-964 overexpressing flies. Here, we further verified that miR-964 deficiency leads to hyper-activation of Drs. In addition, we employed three widely-used bioinformatic algorithms to screen potential miR-964 targets. Finally, we identified that miR-964 modulates Toll signaling pathway, at least in part, by repressing the expression of Drs. Taken together, our study identifies miR-964 as a modulator of Toll signaling and enriches the repertoire of immune-modulating miRNAs in Drosophila.

Keywords: Drosomycin; Drosophila melanogaster; Toll signaling; miR-964.