Induced and Constitutive Immune Defenses in Flies

dc.contributor.advisorMeisel, Richard P.
dc.contributor.committeeMemberZufall, Rebecca A.
dc.contributor.committeeMemberCrawford, Kerri M.
dc.contributor.committeeMemberStewart, Alexander J.
dc.creatorAsgari, Danial
dc.creator.orcid0000-0002-2987-0291
dc.date.accessioned2024-01-24T15:26:15Z
dc.date.available2024-01-24T15:26:15Z
dc.date.createdAugust 2023
dc.date.issued2023-08
dc.date.updated2024-01-24T15:26:16Z
dc.description.abstractOrganisms use induced and constitutive defenses to protect themselves against natural enemies. Induced responses are activated upon an attack, whereas constitutive defenses are always active. Induced and constitutive defenses are well-studied in plant systems; however, the relative usage and regulation of these defenses in most organisms are still unclear. In addition, theoretical research on the evolution of induced and constitutive defenses suffers from the lack of realistic models of immune defenses. To address these gaps in knowledge, I identified induced and constitutive defenses and regulatory mechanisms controlling the two defenses in flies. I have also devised realistic mathematical models to identify factors that shape the evolution of the induced and constitutive defenses in different environments. To those ends, I have analyzed RNA-seq data from house fly (Musca domestica) and Lucilia sericata infection experiments and found immune genes that are induced upon infection and those that are expressed regardless of the infection status (i.e., constitutive). Next, I have identified transcription factors that regulate induced and constitutive immune genes. To gain insight into the evolution of induced and constitutive defenses, I devised detailed mathematical models of induced and constitutive defenses and compared their performance under realistic simulations of host-pathogen interactions. I have shown that the extent to which an organism relies on induced or constitutive defenses is dependent upon its life history. I found evidence for the involvement of pleiotropic transcription factors in the regulation of constitutive defenses. Also, I showed that different organisms use different regulatory mechanisms to activate induced and constitutive defenses. Finally, my theoretical work predicts that environmental uncertainty favors the evolution of induction over constitutive defenses.
dc.description.departmentBiology and Biochemistry, Department of
dc.format.digitalOriginborn digital
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.citationPortions of this document appear in: Asgari, D., Saski, C. A., Meisel, R. P., & Nayduch, D. (2022). Constitutively-expressed and induced immune effectors in the house fly (Musca domestica) and the transcription factors that may regulate them. Insect Molecular Biology, 31(6), 782–797; and in: McKenna, C. H., Asgari, D., Crippen, T. L., Zheng, L., Sherman, R. A., Tomberlin, J. K., Meisel, R. P., & Tarone, A. M. (2021). Gene expression in Lucilia sericata (Diptera: Calliphoridae) larvae exposed to Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii identifies shared and microbe-specific induction of immune genes. Insect Molecular Biology, 31(1), 85–100.
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10657/16004
dc.language.isoeng
dc.rightsThe author of this work is the copyright owner. UH Libraries and the Texas Digital Library have their permission to store and provide access to this work. UH Libraries has secured permission to reproduce any and all previously published materials contained in the work. Further transmission, reproduction, or presentation of this work is prohibited except with permission of the author(s).
dc.subjectImmunity
dc.subjectDrosophila melanogaster
dc.subjectbacterial infection
dc.subjectImd pathway
dc.subjectmathematical model
dc.subjecttranscription factors
dc.subjecthouse fly
dc.titleInduced and Constitutive Immune Defenses in Flies
dc.type.dcmitext
dc.type.genreThesis
thesis.degree.collegeCollege of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
thesis.degree.departmentBiology and Biochemistry, Department of
thesis.degree.disciplineBiology
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Houston
thesis.degree.levelDoctoral
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy

Files

Original bundle

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name:
ASGARI-DISSERTATION-2023.pdf
Size:
6.69 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format

License bundle

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
PROQUEST_LICENSE.txt
Size:
4.43 KB
Format:
Plain Text
Description:
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
LICENSE.txt
Size:
1.81 KB
Format:
Plain Text
Description: