Pseudomonas aeruginosa modulates both Caenorhabditis elegans attraction and pathogenesis by regulating nitrogen assimilation.

ABSTRACT: Detecting chemical signals is important for identifying food sources and avoiding harmful agents. Like many animals, C. elegans use olfaction to chemotax towards their main food source, bacteria. However, little is known about the bacterial compounds governing C. elegans attraction to bacteria and the physiological importance of these compounds to bacteria. Here, we address these questions by investigating the function of a small RNA, P11, in the pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, that was previously shown to mediate learned pathogen avoidance. We discovered that this RNA also affects the attraction of untrained C. elegans to P. aeruginosa and does so by controlling production of ammonia, a volatile odorant produced during nitrogen assimilation. We describe the complex regulation of P. aeru

SUBMITTER: Marogi JG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11387622 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature