Appendix_Fig S9

Host defense against many Gram-positive bacteria and fungal pathogens is mainly provided by the Toll-dependent systemic immune response in <i>Drosophila</i>. While antimicrobial peptides active against these categories of pathogens contribute only modestly to protection, Bomanin peptides are major effectors of the Toll pathway. Remarkably, flies deleted for the <i>55C</i> locus that contains 10 <i>Bomanin</i> genes are as sensitive as Toll pathway mutant flies to these infections. Yet, the exact functions of single Bomanins in resistance or resilience to infections remain poorly characterized. Here, we have extensively studied the role of these <i>Bomanin</i> genes. BomT1 functions in resistance to <i>Enterococcus faecalis</i> while playing a role in resilience against <i>Metarhizium robertsii</i> infection, like BomS2. BomT1 and BomT2 can prevent the dissemination of <i>Candida albicans</i> throughout the host, even though they are not sufficient to confer protection to immunodeficient flies against this pathogen in survival experiments. Furthermore, <i>BomT1 </i>and <i>BomBc1</i> mutants are sensitive to an <i>Aspergillus fumigatus</i> ribotoxin. We conclude that <i>55C</i> Bomanins have defined albeit sometimes overlapping roles in the different facets of host defense against infections.