Pathogen infection induces sickness behaviors through neuromodulators linked to stress and satiety in C. elegans.

ABSTRACT: When animals are infected by a pathogen, peripheral sensors of infection signal to the brain to induce adaptive behavioral changes known as sickness behaviors. While the pathways that signal from the periphery to the brain have been intensively studied, how central circuits are reconfigured to elicit these behavioral changes is not well understood. Here we find that neuromodulatory systems linked to stress and satiety are recruited during chronic pathogen infection to alter the behavior of Caenorhabditis elegans. Upon infection by the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14, C. elegans decrease feeding, then display reversible bouts of quiescence, and eventually die. The ALA neuron and its neuropeptides FLP-7, FLP-24, and NLP-8, which control stress-induced sleep in uninfected animals, promo

SUBMITTER: Pradhan S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11968842 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature