Natural polymorphisms in C. elegans HECW-1 E3 ligase affect pathogen avoidance behaviour.

ABSTRACT: Heritable variation in behavioural traits generally has a complex genetic basis, and thus naturally occurring polymorphisms that influence behaviour have been defined only in rare instances. The isolation of wild strains of Caenorhabditis elegans has facilitated the study of natural genetic variation in this species and provided insights into its diverse microbial ecology. C. elegans responds to bacterial infection with conserved innate immune responses and, although lacking the immunological memory of vertebrate adaptive immunity, shows an aversive learning response to pathogenic bacteria. Here, we report the molecular characterization of naturally occurring coding polymorphisms in a C. elegans gene encoding a conserved HECT domain-containing E3 ubiquitin ligase, HECW-1. We show that two

SUBMITTER: Chang HC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3245782 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature