Fly development genes lead to immune find
Vogel, G.
Science 281(5385): 1942-1944
1998
ISSN/ISBN: 0036-8075 PMID: 9767036 Document Number: 487384
Fly development genes suggest to scientists that the human innate immune system may be more specialized than they had believed. The innate immune system, believed to unleash blunt, nonspecific weapons at all invaders, has long been viewed by immunologists as crude when compared with the adaptive immune system. Over the past few years, however, researchers have found that a family of proteins related to the Toll protein of fruit flies plays a vital role in triggering innate defenses against bacterial and fungal invaders not only in flies but in organisms as divergent as tobacco plants and humans. Scientists are still sorting out the functions of the newly discovered proteins.