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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Pullman, Washington » WHGQ » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #396017
Research Project: Ecology and Genomics of Soilborne Pathogens, Beneficial Microbes, and the Microbiome of Wheat, Barley, and Biofuel Brassicas

Location: Wheat Health, Genetics, and Quality Research

Title: Multiple receptors contribute to the attractive response of Caenorhabditis elegans to pathogenic bacteria

Author
item CHENG, WANLI - Huazhong Agricultural University
item XUE, HUA - Huazhong Agricultural University
item YANG, XUE - Huazhong Agricultural University
item HUANG, DIAN - Huazhong Agricultural University
item CAI, MINMIN - Huazhong Agricultural University
item HUANG, FENG - Huazhong Agricultural University
item ZHENG, LONGYU - Huazhong Agricultural University
item PENG, DONGHAI - Huazhong Agricultural University
item Thomashow, Linda
item Weller, David
item YU, ZINIU - Huazhong Agricultural University
item ZHANG, JIBIN - Huazhong Agricultural University

Submitted to: Microbiology Spectrum
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/11/2022
Publication Date: 12/13/2022
Citation: Cheng, W., Xue, H., Yang, X., Huang, D., Cai, M., Huang, F., Zheng, L., Peng, D., Thomashow, L.S., Weller, D.M., Yu, Z., Zhang, J. 2022. Multiple receptors contribute to the attractive response of Caenorhabditis elegans to pathogenic bacteria. Microbiology Spectrum. 11(1). Article e02319-22. https://doi.org/10.1128/spectrum.02319-22.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1128/spectrum.02319-22

Interpretive Summary: Nematode feeds on bacteria and detect volatile signals through their chemosensory system to distinguish food from pathogens. However, little is known of the molecular mechanism(s) by which nematodes detect these volatile metabolites. Caenorhabditis elegans is a model organism used by researchers to characterize the molecular and chemical interactions between pathogenic nematodes and bacteria. This work showed for the first time that the well-known biocontrol bacterium Paenibacillus polymyxa secrets the volatile metabolite furfural acetone (FAc), which acts as a broad-spectrum nematode attractant. In addition, receptors of FAc in the nematode were identified. This work broadens our understanding of the interactions between bacteria and nematodes.

Technical Abstract: Nematode mainly feeds on bacteria, and sense volatile signals through their chemosensory system to distinguish food from pathogens. Although nematodes recognize bacteria by volatile metabolites is ubiquitous, often little is known of the associated molecular mechanism. Here, anti-nematode bacteria Paenibacillus polymyxa KM2501-1 exhibits attractive effect on Caenorhabditis elegans via volatile metabolites, in which furfural acetone (FAc) acts as a broad-spectrum nematode attractant. We show that the attractive response towards FAc requires both the G protein-coupled receptors STR-2 in AWC neurons, and SRA-13 in AWA and AWC neurons. In the downstream olfactory signal cascades, both the transient receptor potential vanilloid channel in AWA neurons and the cyclic nucleotide-gated channel in AWC neurons are necessary for FAc sensation. These results indicate that multiple receptors and subsequent signal cascades contribute to the attractive response of C. elegans to FAc. And FAc is the first reported ligand of SRA-13. Our current work discovers that P. polymyxa KM2501-1 exhibits attractive effect on nematodes by secreting volatile metabolite FAc, broadening our understanding of the interaction between bacterial pathogens and nematodes.