Spread and transmission of bacterial pathogens in experimental populations of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans.

ABSTRACT: Caenorhabditis elegans is frequently used as a model species for the study of bacterial virulence and innate immunity. In recent years, diverse mechanisms contributing to the nematode's immune response to bacterial infection have been discovered. Yet despite growing interest in the biochemical and molecular basis of nematode-bacterium associations, many questions remain about their ecology. Although recent studies have demonstrated that free-living nematodes could act as vectors of opportunistic pathogens in soil, the extent to which worms may contribute to the persistence and spread of these bacteria has not been quantified. We conducted a series of experiments to test whether colonization of and transmission between C. elegans nematodes could enable two opportunistic pathogens (Salmonell

SUBMITTER: Diaz SA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4136108 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature