How Caenorhabditis elegans responds to Candida albicans: from parental attraction to progeny rejection

D'ALMEIDA ROMINA ELISA; RAO PRUSTY REETA

Glasglow, EScocia

Conferencia; 24 th International C. elegans Conference; 2023

Genetic Society of America (GSA)

In its natural habitat, when Caenorhabditis elegans consumes harmful bacteria, its intestine is colonized, triggering responsesthat include the activation of the immune system to clear the infection, and the nervous system to escape from the pathogen,to learn to avoid it the future and, to transmit epigenetically the learned information to the next generations as part of thestrategies to improve survival of the progeny.Using the powerful genetics and simple yet evolutionarily conserved systems of C. elegans, we aim to describe the neuronalpathways and behavioral responses as well as the mechanism of transgenerational epigenetic inheritance of exposure to fungi,like the human pathogen Candida albicans. Presenting a choice of microbial foods to naïve C. elegans, we observed a strongpreference for C. albicans over the non-pathogenic Escherichia coli OP50, or even the pathogenic bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa.Subsequently, within 4-6 h, C. elegans escape the C. albicans lawn, in correlation with distension of the anterior part ofthe nematode’s intestine. In addition, the population of C. elegans in contact with C. albicans for more than 4 h learns to avoidthis specific yeast in future encounters, and this learned avoidance behavior is transmitted epigenetically to its progeny for oneto four generations. Our findings suggest that the responses to C. albicans mimics mechanisms involved after a P. aeruginosainfection. Future studies will reveal unique pathways to this eukaryotic pathogen.