Association with soil bacteria enhances p38-dependent infection resistance in Caenorhabditis elegans.

ABSTRACT: The importance of our inner microbial communities for proper immune responses against invading pathogens is now well accepted, but the mechanisms underlying this protection are largely unknown. In this study, we used Caenorhabditis elegans to investigate such mechanisms. Since very little is known about the microbes interacting with C. elegans in its natural environment, we began by taking the first steps to characterize the C. elegans microbiota. We established a natural-like environment in which initially germfree, wild-type larvae were grown on enriched soil. Bacterial members of the adult C. elegans microbiota were isolated by culture and identified using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Using pure cultures of bacterial isolates as food, we identified two, Bacillus megaterium and Pseudomonas

SUBMITTER: Montalvo-Katz S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3553824 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature