Transcriptional upregulation of multiple earthworm chitinase genes following bacterial challenge suggests their implications in innate immunity.
Beom Jun ParkYoo Bin YoonDong Ho LeeChuog ShinLouis JuakaliSung-Jin ChoSoon Cheol ParkPublished in: Genes & genomics (2021)
To our knowledge, this is the first report providing direct evidence that multiple earthworm chitinases are bacteria-responsive, strongly suggesting that earthworm chitinases are inducible humoral effectors in earthworm innate immunity. In addition, our results possibly suggest that earthworm EaChi4 may function as a pattern recognition molecule modulating the downstream immune pathway.