Date of Thesis

Spring 2025

Description

Our bodies interact with millions of microbes daily, with trillions more already inhabiting our bodies assisting in processes that help us function as humans. However, on some occasions our bodies face invasions from disease-causing microbes and become infected. In some instances the infection cannot be cleared from the body and persists over time as a chronic infection. While chronic infections are energetically costly, they can also prime the immune system to better fight and eliminate a subsequent infection. The goal of this study is to explore the extent that a bacterial infection has on protecting against a second infection and the underlying mechanisms behind this phenomenon. Therefore, three different wild-type Drosophila strains – Canton S, OR, and w1118 – and three different chronic infection lengths – 3, 7, and 14 days – were tested to determine if genetic variation or timing of chronic infection play a significant role in the immune priming phenomenon. To do this, flies were chronically infected, then 3, 7, or14 days later were infected again with a different bacteria or a sterile solution. Survival was tracked, bacterial load analyzed, and antimicrobial peptide expression measured to determine if resistance to an infection differs between wildtype fly lines and across different infection lengths. Overall, w1118 flies had the most robust protection from a second infection at all three infection lengths in part due to bacterial resistance. This work shows the importance of the impact of genetic background in wild type flies while timing between infections did not play a significant role.

Keywords

Chronic Infection, Bacterial Infection, Drosophila melanogaster, Antimicrobial peptides, Wild-type genotypes

Access Type

Honors Thesis

Degree Type

Bachelor of Science

Major

Biology

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Available for download on Thursday, May 11, 2028

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