Because of the evolutionary conservation of innate mechanisms of host defense, Drosophila has emerged as an ideal animal in which to study the genetic control of immune recognition and responses. The discovery that the Toll pathway is required for defense against fungal infection in Drosophila was pivotal in studies of both mammalian and Drosophila immunity. Subsequent genetic screens in Drosophila to isolate additional mutants unable to induce humoral responses to infection have identified and ordered the function of components of two signaling cascades, the Toll and Imd pathways, that activate responses to infection. Drosophila blood cells also contribute to host defense through phagocytosis and signaling, and may carry out a form of self-nonself recognition that is independent of microbial pattern recognition. Recent work suggests that Drosophila will be a useful model for dissecting virulence mechanisms of several medically important pathogens.

中文翻译：

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果蝇：先天免疫识别和反应的遗传学。

由于宿主防御先天机制的进化保守性，果蝇已成为研究免疫识别和应答的遗传控制的理想动物。在哺乳动物和果蝇免疫研究中，重要的发现是Toll途径是防御果蝇真菌感染所必需的。随后在果蝇中进行的遗传筛选，以分离出无法诱导对感染的体液反应的其他突变体，已经确定并命令了两个信号级联的成分（Toll和Imd途径）激活了对感染的反应。果蝇血细胞还通过吞噬作用和信号传导来促进宿主防御，并可能执行一种独立于微生物模式识别的非自我识别形式。