DSSS - Drosophila host defenses against secreted microbial toxins: resilience against Aspergillus fumigatus toxins

Host defense against microbial infections encompasses two major dimensions: resistance and resilience, also known as disease tolerance. The former corresponds to the mechanisms of the host that target invading microbes for elimination or neutralization, the immune response. In contrast, the latter represents the homeostasis mechanisms that allow the host to withstand and to some extent repairs the damages inflicted by the pathogen’s virulence factors or by the host’s own immune response. In this talk, I will describe how the study of fungal infections allowed us to identify effectors of Drosophila host defense that protect the flies against a variety of microbial toxins, including a neurotoxin.