Infectious diseases continue to pose a serious public health threat worldwide.
The CGM group studies infections in the fruitfly Drosophila . Drosophila offers several attractive features, such as a relatively simple immune system and powerful experimental genetics. However, no natural bacterial pathogen of Drosophila had been identified previously that induces these peptides. After an extensive search the researchers identified a bacterial strain, Erwinia carotovora , which was capable of infecting Drosophila larvae and activating anti-bacterial peptide genes 1 . Erwinia carotovora is a phytopathogenic bacteria which causes blackleg disease in potatoes and uses flies as a vector to propagate between plants.