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Alkan C, Brésard G, Frézal L, Richaud A, Ruaud A, Zhang G, Félix MA. Natural variation in infection specificity of Caenorhabditis briggsae isolates by two RNA viruses. PLoS Pathog 2024; 20:e1012259. [PMID: 38861582 PMCID: PMC11195985 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1012259] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2024] [Revised: 06/24/2024] [Accepted: 05/14/2024] [Indexed: 06/13/2024] Open
Abstract
Antagonistic relationships such as host-virus interactions potentially lead to rapid evolution and specificity in interactions. The Orsay virus is so far the only horizontal virus naturally infecting the nematode C. elegans. In contrast, several related RNA viruses infect its congener C. briggsae, including Santeuil (SANTV) and Le Blanc (LEBV) viruses. Here we focus on the host's intraspecific variation in sensitivity to these two intestinal viruses. Many temperate-origin C. briggsae strains, including JU1264 and JU1498, are sensitive to both, while many tropical strains, such as AF16, are resistant to both. Interestingly, some C. briggsae strains exhibit a specific resistance, such as the HK104 strain, specifically resistant to LEBV. The viral sensitivity pattern matches the strains' geographic and genomic relationships. The heavily infected strains mount a seemingly normal small RNA response that is insufficient to suppress viral infection, while the resistant strains show no small RNA response, suggesting an early block in viral entry or replication. We use a genetic approach from the host side to map genomic regions participating in viral resistance polymorphisms. Using Advanced Intercrossed Recombinant Inbred Lines (RILs) between virus-resistant AF16 and SANTV-sensitive HK104, we detect Quantitative Trait Loci (QTLs) on chromosomes IV and III. Building RILs between virus-sensitive JU1498 and LEBV-resistant HK104 followed by bulk segregant analysis, we identify a chromosome II QTL. In both cases, further introgressions of the regions confirmed the QTLs. This diversity provides an avenue for studying virus entry, replication, and exit mechanisms, as well as host-virus specificity and the host response to a specific virus infection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cigdem Alkan
- IBENS, Department of Biology, Ecole Normale Supérieure, CNRS, Inserm, PSL Research University, Paris, France
| | - Gautier Brésard
- IBENS, Department of Biology, Ecole Normale Supérieure, CNRS, Inserm, PSL Research University, Paris, France
| | - Lise Frézal
- IBENS, Department of Biology, Ecole Normale Supérieure, CNRS, Inserm, PSL Research University, Paris, France
- Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, Unité des Bactéries pathogènes entériques Paris, Paris, France
| | - Aurélien Richaud
- IBENS, Department of Biology, Ecole Normale Supérieure, CNRS, Inserm, PSL Research University, Paris, France
| | - Albane Ruaud
- IBENS, Department of Biology, Ecole Normale Supérieure, CNRS, Inserm, PSL Research University, Paris, France
| | - Gaotian Zhang
- IBENS, Department of Biology, Ecole Normale Supérieure, CNRS, Inserm, PSL Research University, Paris, France
| | - Marie-Anne Félix
- IBENS, Department of Biology, Ecole Normale Supérieure, CNRS, Inserm, PSL Research University, Paris, France
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Bedet C, Quarato P, Palladino F, Cecere G, Robert VJ. The C. elegans SET1 histone methyltransferase SET-2 is not required for transgenerational memory of silencing. MICROPUBLICATION BIOLOGY 2024; 2024:10.17912/micropub.biology.001143. [PMID: 38808193 PMCID: PMC11130714 DOI: 10.17912/micropub.biology.001143] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2024] [Revised: 03/22/2024] [Accepted: 05/09/2024] [Indexed: 05/30/2024]
Abstract
The SET-2 /SET1 histone H3K4 methyltransferase and RNAi pathway components are required to maintain fertility across generations in C. elegans . SET-2 preserves the germline transcriptional program transgenerationally, and RNAi pathways rely on small RNAs to establish and maintain transgenerational gene silencing. We investigated whether the functionality of RNAi-induced transgenerational silencing and the composition of pools of endogenous small RNA are affected by the absence of SET-2 . Our results suggest that defects in RNAi pathways are not responsible for the transcriptional misregulation observed in the absence of SET-2 .
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Affiliation(s)
- Cécile Bedet
- Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Laboratory of Biology and Modeling of the Cell, CNRS UMR5239, Inserm U1293, University Claude Bernard Lyon 1, 69007 Lyon, France Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France
| | - Piergiuseppe Quarato
- Mechanisms of Epigenetic Inheritance, Department of Developmental and Stem Cell Biology, Institut Pasteur, CNRS UMR3738, Paris, France
- Current address: San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy
| | - Francesca Palladino
- Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Laboratory of Biology and Modeling of the Cell, CNRS UMR5239, Inserm U1293, University Claude Bernard Lyon 1, 69007 Lyon, France Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France
| | - Germano Cecere
- Mechanisms of Epigenetic Inheritance, Department of Developmental and Stem Cell Biology, Institut Pasteur, CNRS UMR3738, Paris, France
| | - Valérie J Robert
- Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Laboratory of Biology and Modeling of the Cell, CNRS UMR5239, Inserm U1293, University Claude Bernard Lyon 1, 69007 Lyon, France Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France
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González R, Félix MA. Caenorhabditis elegans immune responses to microsporidia and viruses. DEVELOPMENTAL AND COMPARATIVE IMMUNOLOGY 2024; 154:105148. [PMID: 38325500 DOI: 10.1016/j.dci.2024.105148] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2023] [Revised: 01/30/2024] [Accepted: 02/03/2024] [Indexed: 02/09/2024]
Abstract
The model organism Caenorhabditis elegans is susceptible to infection by obligate intracellular pathogens, specifically microsporidia and viruses. These intracellular pathogens infect intestinal cells, or, for some microsporidia, epidermal cells. Strikingly, intestinal cell infections by viruses or microsporidia trigger a common transcriptional response, activated in part by the ZIP-1 transcription factor. Among the strongest activated genes in this response are ubiquitin-pathway members and members of the pals family, an intriguing gene family with cross-regulations of different members of genomic clusters. Some of the induced genes participate in host defense against the pathogens, for example through ubiquitin-mediated inhibition. Other mechanisms defend the host specifically against viral infections, including antiviral RNA interference and uridylation. These various immune responses are altered by environmental factors and by intraspecific genetic variation of the host. These pathogens were first isolated 15 years ago and much remains to be discovered using C. elegans genetics; also, other intracellular pathogens of C. elegans may yet to be discovered.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rubén González
- Institut de Biologie de l'École Normale Supérieure, CNRS, INSERM, 75005, Paris, France.
| | - Marie-Anne Félix
- Institut de Biologie de l'École Normale Supérieure, CNRS, INSERM, 75005, Paris, France
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Sengupta T, St. Ange J, Kaletsky R, Moore RS, Seto RJ, Marogi J, Myhrvold C, Gitai Z, Murphy CT. A natural bacterial pathogen of C. elegans uses a small RNA to induce transgenerational inheritance of learned avoidance. PLoS Genet 2024; 20:e1011178. [PMID: 38547071 PMCID: PMC10977744 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1011178] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2023] [Accepted: 02/09/2024] [Indexed: 04/02/2024] Open
Abstract
C. elegans can learn to avoid pathogenic bacteria through several mechanisms, including bacterial small RNA-induced learned avoidance behavior, which can be inherited transgenerationally. Previously, we discovered that a small RNA from a clinical isolate of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, PA14, induces learned avoidance and transgenerational inheritance of that avoidance in C. elegans. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an important human pathogen, and there are other Pseudomonads in C. elegans' natural habitat, but it is unclear whether C. elegans ever encounters PA14-like bacteria in the wild. Thus, it is not known if small RNAs from bacteria found in C. elegans' natural habitat can also regulate host behavior and produce heritable behavioral effects. Here we screened a set of wild habitat bacteria, and found that a pathogenic Pseudomonas vranovensis strain isolated from the C. elegans microbiota, GRb0427, regulates worm behavior: worms learn to avoid this pathogenic bacterium following exposure, and this learned avoidance is inherited for four generations. The learned response is entirely mediated by bacterially-produced small RNAs, which induce avoidance and transgenerational inheritance, providing further support that such mechanisms of learning and inheritance exist in the wild. We identified Pv1, a small RNA expressed in P. vranovensis, that has a 16-nucleotide match to an exon of the C. elegans gene maco-1. Pv1 is both necessary and sufficient to induce learned avoidance of Grb0427. However, Pv1 also results in avoidance of a beneficial microbiome strain, P. mendocina. Our findings suggest that bacterial small RNA-mediated regulation of host behavior and its transgenerational inheritance may be functional in C. elegans' natural environment, and that this potentially maladaptive response may favor reversal of the transgenerational memory after a few generations. Our data also suggest that different bacterial small RNA-mediated regulation systems evolved independently, but define shared molecular features of bacterial small RNAs that produce transgenerationally-inherited effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Titas Sengupta
- Lewis Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America
- Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America
| | - Jonathan St. Ange
- Lewis Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America
- Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America
| | - Rachel Kaletsky
- Lewis Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America
- Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America
| | - Rebecca S. Moore
- Lewis Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America
- Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America
| | - Renee J. Seto
- Lewis Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America
- Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America
| | - Jacob Marogi
- Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America
| | - Cameron Myhrvold
- Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America
| | - Zemer Gitai
- Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America
| | - Coleen T. Murphy
- Lewis Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America
- Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America
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