This three-year award supports US-UK collaborative research on insect immunity and resistance to parasites between Anthony Nappi of Loyola University and Norman Ratcliffe of the University of Wales. The objective of their research is to elucidate the nature of the cytotoxic components generated by insects that specifically target and destroy their endoparasites. The research will establish whether immune responses in insects involve the enhanced production of such cytotoxic reactive oxygen species (ROS) as superoxide, hydrogen peroxide, hydroxyl radical, and nitric oxide. The production of these ROS molecules will be monitored in insect host-parasite systems: Drosophila melanogaster and the parasite the cnynipid wasp, Leptopilina boulardi, and Rhodnius prolixus and its parasite, the protozoan Trypanosoma rangeli.
The US investigator brings to this collaboration expertise in reactive oxygen molecules. This is complemented by the UK investigator's extensive experience with insect/host parasite systems. The identification of cytotoxic molecules and knowledge of how they are produced will provide fundamental knowledge about the immune recognition system in insects.
