Immune responses antimicrobial proteins

Toll signaling now appears to be one of the most evolu-tionarily conserved processes known. All the components between Toll and the activation of Dorsal have been largely conserved. There are 8 Drosophila proteins related to Toll plus Toll itself and 10 Toll-related human proteins that control the production of a wide variety of antimicrobial peptides in flies and cytokines in mammals. These molecules provide a rapid, nonspecific defense against infection by a wide array of pathogens. The adaptive immune response mounted by vertebrates, involving antibodies and T cells, is directed against specific pathogens but is slower to develop than the innate, nonspecific response. 

Biological changes resulting from receptor responses include ion channel off-on, oxidative bursts, cellular redox changes and protein kinase cascades, which control cellular responses, such as cell wall reinforcement or antimicrobial production, or activate changes in gene expression that then enhance other defensive responses of the plant immune system. ... 

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