Specificity and complexity of the Caenorhabditis elegans innate immune response.

ABSTRACT: In response to infection, Caenorhabditis elegans produces an array of antimicrobial proteins. To understand the C. elegans immune response, we have investigated the regulation of a large, representative sample of candidate antimicrobial genes. We found that all these putative antimicrobial genes are expressed in tissues exposed to the environment, a position from which they can ward off infection. Using RNA interference to inhibit the function of immune signaling pathways in C. elegans, we found that different immune response pathways regulate expression of distinct but overlapping sets of antimicrobial genes. We also show that different bacterial pathogens regulate distinct but overlapping sets of antimicrobial genes. The patterns of genes induced by pathogens do not coincide with any sin

SUBMITTER: Alper S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1952075 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature