Post doctoral stipend of Dr. Sophie Armitage "Insect evolutionary immunology: the role of the Dscam gene in host-parasite coevolution"

Basic data for this project

Description

Parasites are predicted to evolve rapidly and thus provide us with an excellent opportunity for studying fast evolutionary processes. Host defence against parasites relies on the immune system, and research has increasingly made use of insect model species for analysing immune functions. To understand how the insect immune system combats parasites it is necessary to have insight into both immunological mechanisms, and importantly, into how the evolutionary pressures of abundant and rapidly evolving parasites have shaped immune defence. Key to this understanding is knowledge about how the immune system recognises parasite antigen diversity: Downs syndrome cell adhesion molecule (Dscam) is a prime candidate for recognition of specific antigens. This project interweaves evolutionary thinking and methodologies with molecular techniques and immune-ecology to illuminate the role of Dscam in insect immunity. First by testing whether parts of the Dscam gene show signs of positive selection in support of a role for Dscam in parasite epitope recognition. Second by using Drosophila melanogaster to combine these results with experimental immune-ecology: examining in detail the level of specificity Dscam may show towards parasites, and whether it could play a role in specific immune priming.