PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - C. E. Riddell AU - J. D. Lobaton Garces AU - S. Adams AU - D. W. Twell AU - E. B. Mallon TI - Insect immune specificity in a host-parasite model AID - 10.1101/002709 DP - 2014 Jan 01 TA - bioRxiv PG - 002709 4099 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2014/02/15/002709.short 4100 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2014/02/15/002709.full AB - Ecological studies routinely show host-parasite genotype-genotype interactions in insect systems. The mechanisms behind these interactions are less clearly understood. Using the bumblebee Bombus terrestris / trypanosome Crithidia bombi model system, we have carried out a transcriptome-wide analysis of gene expression in bees during C. bombi infection. We have performed three analyses, comparing expression in infected and non-infected bees 24 hours after infection by Crithidia bombi, expression at 24 and 48 hours after C.bombi infection and finally looked for differential gene expression associated with the host-parasite genotype-genotype interaction at 24 hours after infection. We found a large number of genes differentially regulated belonging to numerous canonical immune pathways. These genes include receptors, signaling pathways and effectors. We found a possible interaction between the peritrophic membrane and the insect immune system in defense against Crithidia. Most interestingly we found differential expression of Dscam depending on the genotype-genotype interactions of the given bumblebee colony and Crithidia strain.