• BMB Reports
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.128-150
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• 2005

Invertebrate animals, which lack adaptive immune systems, have developed other systems of biological host defense, so called innate immunity, that respond to common antigens on the cell surfaces of potential pathogens. During the past two decades, the molecular structures and functions of various defense components that participated in innate immune systems have been established in Arthropoda, such as, insects, the horseshoe crab, freshwater crayfish, and the protochordata ascidian. These defense molecules include phenoloxidases, clotting factors, complement factors, lectins, protease inhibitors, antimicrobial peptides, Toll receptors, and other humoral factors found mainly in hemolymph plasma and hemocytes. These components, which together compose the innate immune system, defend invertebrate from invading bacterial, fungal, and viral pathogens. This review describes the present status of our knowledge concerning such defensive molecules in invertebrates.

• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.19-24
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• 1996

To investigate the genes which is related to immune reaction of Bombyx mori, differential screening was carried out using naive and induced B. mori mRNA probe. To begin with, we constructed the cDNA library with mRNA isolated from fifth instar larvae injected with E. coli(4 X 106 cells/larva) using Uni ZAP XR vector kit. Thirty-two inducible cDNAs showing higher intensity on the induced mRNA probing membranes were selected. Partial nucleotide sequences of 29 clones were determined and their expessed sequence tags (ESTs) were produced. Nineteen ESTs in 29 ESTs were matched in GenBank database and the rest of them were found to be unknown. These unmatched ESTs were presumed to be novel genes. The nineteen ESTs contained variable genes related to biological process in Bombyx mori and four classes immune genes. Four clones, BmInc 6, 8, 18 and 27 were similar to two antibacterial peptide genes, hemolin gene and transferrin gene, respectively.