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Immune-Deficient Drosophila melanogaster: A Model for the Innate Immune Response to Human Fungal Pathogens^1,2

Anne-Marie Alarco^3,*, Anne Marcil^*, Jian Chen, Beat Suter, David Thomas and Malcolm Whiteway^*,

^* Genetics Group, Biotechnology Research Institute/National Research Council, and Departments of Biology and Biochemistry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

We explored the host-pathogen interactions of the human opportunistic fungus Candida albicans using Drosophila melanogaster. We established that a Drosophila strain devoid of functional Toll receptor is highly susceptible to the human pathogen C. albicans. Using this sensitive strain, we have been able to show that a set of specific C. albicans mutants of different virulence in mammalian infection models are also impaired in virulence in Drosophila and remarkably display the same rank order of virulence. This immunodeficient insect model also revealed virulence properties undetected in an immunocompetent murine model of infection. The genetic systems available in both host and pathogen will enable the identification of host-specific components and C. albicans genes involved in the host-fungal interplay.

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