The evolutionary conservation of the NF-B transcription factors, from Drosophila to humans, underscores its pivotal role in immune response. Unexpectedly, the canonical NF-B signaling pathway is not functional in the immune system of Caenorhabditis elegans. Therefore, the ancient origin of the NF-B signaling pathway is still unknown. Here, we report the discovery and characterization of a primitive and functional NF-B͞I B pathway in the immune defense of a ''living fossil,'' the horseshoe crab, Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda. The ancient NF-B͞I B homologues, CrNF B, CrRelish, and CrI B, share numerous signature motifs with their vertebrate orthologues. CrNF B recognizes both horseshoe crab and mammalian B response elements. CrI B interacts with CrNF B and inhibits its nuclear translocation and DNA-binding activity. The activation of the CrNF B is autoregulated by a feedback mechanism mediated by CrI B, the natural inhibitor of CrNF B. We further show that Gram-negative bacteria infection causes rapid degradation of CrI B and nuclear translocation of CrNF B. Infection also leads to an increase in the B-binding activity and up-regulation of immune-related gene expression, like inducible nitric oxide synthase and Factor C, an LPS-activated serine protease. Altogether, our study shows that, although absent in C. elegans, the NF-B͞I B signaling cascade remains well conserved from horseshoe crab to humans, playing an archaic but fundamental role in regulating the expression of critical immune defense molecules.conservation and coevolution ͉ horseshoe crab ͉ infection and immune response ͉ transcriptional control T he family of NF-B transcription factors plays an indispensable role in immunity, inflammation, apoptosis, development, and differentiation (1, 2). NF-B dimers are held in an inactive cytoplasmic complex with a family of inhibitory proteins, the I Bs. Degradation of I Bs permits nuclear translocation of NF-B, where they stimulate the transcription of various immune-related genes (1). In Drosophila melanogaster, NF-B homologues (Dorsal, Dif, and Relish) are responsible for regulating several biological roles, including humoral immunity and development (3, 4). These important and diverse functions make NF-B one of the best-studied transcriptional factors in biology (2). Unexpectedly, in Caenorhabditis elegans, the NF-B protein is absent, and similar functional homologues (Toll, Traf, Cactus) are not involved in innate immune response (5). This led to the suggestion that the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway, which mediates the immune response in C. elegans, is the ancestral signaling pathway of the common ancestor of nematodes, arthropods, and vertebrates, predating the evolution of the NF-B immune signaling pathway (6). Thus, the ancient origin of the NF-B signaling pathway is still a conundrum, and it remains unclear whether the similarities between Drosophila and the human NF-B pathway have resulted from convergent evolution or reflect common ancestral pathways. Therefore, additional information on ...