C. elegans avoids toxin-producing Streptomyces using a seven transmembrane domain chemosensory receptor.

ABSTRACT: Predators and prey co-evolve, each maximizing their own fitness, but the effects of predator-prey interactions on cellular and molecular machinery are poorly understood. Here, we study this process using the predator Caenorhabditis elegans and the bacterial prey Streptomyces, which have evolved a powerful defense: the production of nematicides. We demonstrate that upon exposure to Streptomyces at their head or tail, nematodes display an escape response that is mediated by bacterially produced cues. Avoidance requires a predicted G-protein-coupled receptor, SRB-6, which is expressed in five types of amphid and phasmid chemosensory neurons. We establish that species of Streptomyces secrete dodecanoic acid, which is sensed by SRB-6. This behavioral adaptation repre

SUBMITTER: Tran A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5584987 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature