1. A two-gene balance regulates Salmonella typhimurium tolerance in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans.
- Author
-
Marsh EK, van den Berg MC, and May RC
- Subjects
- Animals, Caenorhabditis elegans enzymology, Cryptococcosis genetics, Cryptococcosis microbiology, Cryptococcus neoformans physiology, Dosage Compensation, Genetic, Humans, Mutation genetics, Phenotype, Salmonella Infections, Animal genetics, Salmonella Infections, Animal microbiology, Suppression, Genetic, Adaptation, Physiological genetics, Caenorhabditis elegans genetics, Caenorhabditis elegans microbiology, Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins genetics, Genes, Helminth genetics, Muramidase genetics, Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-abl genetics, Salmonella typhimurium physiology
- Abstract
Lysozymes are antimicrobial enzymes that perform a critical role in resisting infection in a wide-range of eukaryotes. However, using the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as a model host we now demonstrate that deletion of the protist type lysozyme LYS-7 renders animals susceptible to killing by the fatal fungal human pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans, but, remarkably, enhances tolerance to the enteric bacteria Salmonella Typhimurium. This trade-off in immunological susceptibility in C. elegans is further mediated by the reciprocal activity of lys-7 and the tyrosine kinase abl-1. Together this implies a greater complexity in C. elegans innate immune function than previously thought.
- Published
- 2011
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