RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Natural transposable element insertions drive expression changes in genes underlying Drosophila immune response
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 655225
DO 10.1101/655225
A1 Anna Ullastres
A1 Miriam Merenciano
A1 Josefa González
YR 2019
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/05/31/655225.abstract
AB Variation in gene expression underlies inter-individual variability in immune response. However, the mutations responsible for gene expression changes remain largely unknown. In this work, we searched for transposable element insertions present at high population frequencies and located nearby immune-related genes in Drosophila melanogaster. We identified 12 insertions associated with allele-specific expression changes in immune-related genes. We showed that transgenically induced expression changes in most of these genes are associated with differences in survival to infection with the gram-negative bacteria Pseudomonas entomophila. We provide experimental evidence suggesting a causal role for five insertions in the allele-specific expression changes observed. Furthermore, for two insertions we found a significant association with increased tolerance to bacterial infection. Our results showed for the first time that polymorphic transposable element insertions from different families drive expression changes in genes that are relevant for inter-individual differences in immune response.