Analysis of acquired immunity system in insects

• Project/Area Number: 23658053
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Applied entomology
• Research Institution: National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences
• Principal Investigator: TANAKA Hiromitsu 独立行政法人農業生物資源研究所, 昆虫機能研究開発ユニット, 主任研究員 (30391577)
• Project Period (FY): 2011 – 2012
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2012)
• Budget Amount: ¥3,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥900,000); Fiscal Year 2012: ¥1,820,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥420,000); Fiscal Year 2011: ¥2,080,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥480,000)
• Keywords: 昆虫病理 / カイコ / 自然免疫 / 免疫記憶

Research Abstract

Insects possess an innate immunity system that is characterized as immune reactions with non-specific factors. Although insects are known to lack an acquired immunity with immunological memory, it is still controversy whether insects have an immunological memory or not. In this study, we found that priming silkworm with E. coli increased clearance of living E. coli cells in the E. coli-reinoculated body. Furthermore, we indicated that the elevation of this clearance was not caused by activation of the humoral immune reactions, but probably by activation of the cellular reactions.