Both live and dead Enterococci activate Caenorhabditis elegans host defense via immune and stress pathways.

ABSTRACT: The innate immune response of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has been extensively studied and a variety of Toll-independent immune response pathways have been identified. Surprisingly little, however, is known about how pathogens activate the C. elegans immune response. Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium are closely related enterococcal species that exhibit significantly different levels of virulence in C. elegans infection models. Previous work has shown that activation of the C. elegans immune response by Pseudomonas aeruginosa involves P. aeruginosa-mediated host damage. Through ultrastructural imaging, we report that infection with either E. faecalis or E. faecium causes the worm intestine to become distended with proliferating bacteria in the absence of extensive morp

SUBMITTER: Yuen GJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5955442 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature