Since the discovery of antimicrobial peptide responses 40 years ago, the fruit fly Drosophila
melanogaster has proven to be a powerful model for the study of innate immunity. Early work …

Immune defense and reproduction are physiologically and energetically demanding
processes and have been observed to trade off in a diversity of female insects. Increased …

Mounting an immune response is an energy-consuming process. Activating immune
functions requires the synthesis of many new molecules and the undertaking of numerous …

Tolerance, the ability of a host to limit the negative fitness effects of a given parasite load, is
now recognised as an important host defence strategy in animals. Together with resistance …

How do we defend ourselves against pathogenic microbes and other parasites infecting us?
Research on defence against parasites has traditionally focused on resistance—the ability …

A central problem in infection biology is understanding why two individuals exposed to
identical infections have different outcomes. We have developed an experimental model …

The sexes show profound differences in responses to infection and the development of
autoimmunity. Dimorphisms in immune responses are ubiquitous across taxa, from …

Host responses to infection encompass many processes in addition to activation of the
immune system, including metabolic adaptations, stress responses, tissue repair, and other …

Abiotic and biotic factors can affect host resistance to parasites. Host diet and host gut
microbiomes are two increasingly recognized factors influencing disease resistance. In …

The balance between immunity and reproduction is essential for many key physiological
functions. We report that to maintain an optimal fertility, 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E) and the …