英国惠康桑格研究所Oliver Billker和美国国立卫生研究院Carolina Barillas-Mury合作取得最新进展。他们揭示了单细胞分辨率下的蚊子细胞免疫。这一研究成果于2020年8月28日发表在《科学》杂志上。

他们鉴定了冈比亚按蚊和埃及伊蚊蚊载体8506血细胞的转录组。他们的数据揭示了血细胞的功能多样性，其中粒细胞表达了效应基因独特且进化保守的亚型。An中以前未鉴定的细胞类型，An. gambiae，他们称之为“巨细胞”，由特定的跨膜蛋白标记（TM7318）和脂多糖诱导的肿瘤坏死因子-α转录因子3（LL3）的高表达所定义。

敲低实验表明，LL3在免疫引发过程中介导血细胞分化。他们确定并验证了两个主要的血细胞谱系，并发现了粒细胞数量激增的证据。这一医学相关的无脊椎动物免疫细胞地图谱，在单细胞分辨率水平上鉴定了支持蚊子抵抗疟疾感染的细胞事件。

附：英文原文

Title: Mosquito cellular immunity at single-cell resolution

Author: Gianmarco Raddi, Ana Beatriz F. Barletta, Mirjana Efremova, Jose Luis Ramirez, Rafael Cantera, Sarah A. Teichmann, Carolina Barillas-Mury, Oliver Billker

Issue&Volume: 2020/08/28

Abstract: Hemocytes limit the capacity of mosquitoes to transmit human pathogens. Here we profile the transcriptomes of 8506 hemocytes of Anopheles gambiae and Aedes aegypti mosquito vectors. Our data reveal the functional diversity of hemocytes, with different subtypes of granulocytes expressing distinct and evolutionarily conserved subsets of effector genes. A previously unidentified cell type in An. gambiae, which we term “megacyte,” is defined by a specific transmembrane protein marker (TM7318) and high expression of lipopolysaccharide-induced tumor necrosis factor–α transcription factor 3 (LL3). Knockdown experiments indicate that LL3 mediates hemocyte differentiation during immune priming. We identify and validate two main hemocyte lineages and find evidence of proliferating granulocyte populations. This atlas of medically relevant invertebrate immune cells at single-cell resolution identifies cellular events that underpin mosquito immunity to malaria infection.

DOI: 10.1126/science.abc0322

Source: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/369/6507/1128