Neuro-immune responses and transgenerational epigenetic inheritance of Caenorhabditis elegans against Candida albicans infection

D'ALMEIDA ROMINA ELISA; RAO PRUSTY REETA

Valparaíso

Workshop; 3rd Latin American Worm Meeting - EMBO; 2023

In its natural habitat, when Caenorhabditis elegans consumes harmful bacteria, its intestine is colonized, triggering responses that include the activation of the immune and the nervous systems to clear the infection, to escape from the pathogen and to remember avoiding it the next time is near. Depending on the pathogen, this learned information is transmitted epigenetically to the next generations as part of the strategies to improve survival of the progeny. Using the powerful genetics and simple yet evolutionarily conserved systems of C. elegans, we aim to describe the neuronal pathways 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 strong preference 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 of the nematode’s intestine. In addition, the population of C. elegans in contact with C. albicans for more than 4 h learns to avoid this specific yeast in future encounters, and this learned avoidance behavior is transmitted epigenetically to its progeny for one to four generations. Our findings suggest that the responses to C. albicans mimics mechanisms involved after a P. aeruginosa. Future studies will reveal unique pathways to this eukaryotic pathogen.