RNA methyltransferase CMTR-1 inhibition activates a GATA transcription factor-mediated protective immune response.

ABSTRACT: Organisms can activate innate immunity not only by detecting pathogens but also by sensing disturbances to essential cellular processes. Such damage-based surveillance provides a means to identify cellular disruptions that prime host immunity even in the absence of infection. To uncover pathways that enhance immunity, we perform a forward genetic screen in Caenorhabditis elegans for mutants with elevated intestinal immune activation. This screen identifies a hypomorphic allele of the conserved mRNA cap 2'-O-methyltransferase cmtr-1, which strongly induces immune effector expression. Transcriptomic profiling reveals the broad activation of innate immune responses, and functional analyses demonstrate that this response requires the GATA transcription factor ELT-2. Notably, loss

SUBMITTER: Ghosh A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12710819 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature