This recent paper caught my eye, as as some of my recent research has related to the regulation of antimicrobial defence in Drosophila. Insects have a two ways of coping with microbial infection. Firstly, microbes may be dealt with by circulating blood cells (haemocytes) of which there are several classes. Haemocytes to no play any role in respiration in insects. A second means of controlling microbes involves several peptides that kill bacteria or fungi: these are usually expressed in response to the presence of microbes in the haemolymph. Interestingly, this induced system has a counterpart in vertebrates. It's generally thought that the important system in clearing pathogenic microbes in insects is the induced antimicrobial peptides. This paper investigates the roles of both systems.
The authors have evaluated the relative use of these two mechanisms of infection control in Tenebrio molitorI, the mealworm (picture above). Their hypothesis is that the haemocytes represent the first line of defence, with the induced response of antimicrobial peptides mopping up microbes remaining from the first round defence. In this model, the induced antimicrobial response largely functions to eliminate suviving pathogens that may be refractory to the first line of defence.