Effect of pattern recognition receptor LE (PGRP-LE) overexpression in Dredd mutant Drosophila enterocytes

The main goal of this study was to characterize the Dredd-independent functions of PGRP-LE in the adult Drosophila midgut (the midgut is the functional analog of the vertebrate small intestine). We expressed a UAS-PGRP-LE transgene under the control of mex-GAL4, which is specifically active in midgut enterocytes, in a Dredd mutant background. We then collected adult male midguts, extracted total RNA and performed mRNA-seq. Our data show that PGRP-LE overexpression alters fundamental aspects of midgut metabolism in Dredd mutant midguts. Overall design: Total RNA was extracted from 20 midguts of Dredd mutant adult males (controls - genotype: Dredd D44/Y; mex-GAL4/+), and of Dredd mutant adult males with PGRP-LE overexpression in enterocytes (genotype: Dredd D44/Y; mex-GAL4/UAS-PGRP-LE). mRNA sequencing was performed on 5 biological replicates per genotype. Adult male flies were fed a yeast only diet and dissected 7 days after eclosion.