Figure 9. Effects of different dPrx5 forms on activation of the immune response genes in males (A) and females (B).

The genotypes of flies are described in Table 1. Flies were collected at the ages indicated in Table 5. RNA was isolated from at least 10 flies for each group. qRT-PCR was performed as indicated in Material and Methods and Fig. 5. Results are means ± SEM of three replicates performed with three independent cohorts (total n=9). There were no statically significant differences in age-specific changes in the levels of Dipt and AttA&B between the DM and flies expressing cytosolic or nuclear forms of dPrx5. The differences were significant between the DM and Control (P=0.025 for AttA&B and P=0.0022 for Dipt), the DM and flies expressing mitochondrial dPrx5 (P=0.0399 for AttA&B and P=0.0061 for Dipt) as determined by analysis of the slopes of corresponding regression lines. Differences between flies expressing mitochondrial, full length dPrx5 and Control were not significant. When Dipt or AttA&B mRNA levels were plotted against % of life span, no significant differences in the regression curves slopes were determined (bottom graphs). B, Both chronological and physiological aging conferred differential effects on diptericin expression between flies expressing mitochondrial (Mit) or predominantly mitochondrial (dPrx5) forms and the DM (P=0.0048 and P<0.0001) while differences between the DM and flies expressing the cytosolic or nuclear forms of dPrx5 were not statistically significant. Expression of attacin differs significantly between the DM and all other fly lines at 11–13 days of age, at a time when short-lived DM as well as the cytotolic and nuclear expressors are undergoing rapid death (P <0.001).