Drosophila immunity: two paths to NF-κB

Recent studies of Drosophila immune responses have defined the immune deficiency (IMD) signaling pathway that mediates defense against Gram-negative bacterial infection. Like the Toll pathway, the IMD pathway regulates antimicrobial peptide gene expression via a Rel/nuclear factor (NF)-κB-like transcription factor. However, the two pathways do not appear to share any intermediate components. Maintaining distinct immune response pathways might be one mechanism by which flies mount adapted immune responses.