Caenorhabditis elegans sensory neurons modulate pathogen specific responses via HLH-30/TFEB transcription factor and FSHR-1 GPCR axes of immunity

Abstract

Pattern recognition receptors allow animals to sense microbe associated molecular patterns and mount effective immune responses. It is not clear how Caenorhabditis elegans recognizes pathogenic microbes in absence of classical pattern recognition pathways. Here, we asked if sensory neurons of C. elegans allow it to distinguish between pathogens. Exposure of C. elegans to a Gram positive bacterium Enterococcus faecalis or to a Gram negative bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa showed predominantly pathogen-specific signatures. Using nematodes defective in sensory perception, we show that neuronal sensing is essential to mount pathogen specific immune response. OSM-6 expressing, ciliated neurons exert non-cell autonomous control of immune effector production via an OSM-6-FSHR-1 GPCR axis as well as an OSM-6-HLH-30/TFEB transcription factor axis during E. faecalis infection. OSM-6-FSHR-1 axis also controls immune response to P. aeruginosa. In all, this study delineates essential role of sensory perception in the regulation of pathogen-specific immunity in C. elegans.\n\nO_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=161 SRC=\"FIGDIR/small/609610_ufig1.gif\" ALT=\"Figure 1\">\nView larger version (36K):\norg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@33aa54org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1f38464org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@78c656org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1256266_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG