Bacterial vitamin B₁₂ production enhances nematode predatory behavior.

ABSTRACT: Although the microbiota is known to affect host development, metabolism, and immunity, its impact on host behavior is only beginning to be understood. In order to better characterize behavior modulation by host-associated microorganisms, we investigated how bacteria modulate complex behaviors in the nematode model organism Pristionchus pacificus. This nematode is a predator that feeds on the larvae of other nematodes, including Caenorhabditis elegans. By growing P. pacificus on different bacteria and testing their ability to kill C. elegans, we reveal large differences in killing efficiencies, with a Novosphingobium species showing the strongest enhancement. This enhanced killing was not accompanied by an increase in feeding, which is a phenomenon known as surplus killing, whereby predator

SUBMITTER: Akduman N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7242318 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature