An entomopathogenic <i>Caenorhabditis briggsae</i>

Abebe, Eyualem; Jumba, Miriam; Bonner, Kaitlin; Gray, Vince; Morris, Krystalynne; Thomas, W. Kelley

doi:10.1242/jeb.043109

Cited by 37 publications

(40 citation statements)

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“…SCBI on the nematode epidermis or in the gut or bacterial proliferation in the prepared plate caused G. mellonella to die. The pathogenicity shown in Abebe et al (Abebe et al, 2010) is simply the effect of C. briggsae inadvertently introducing Serratia sp. SCBI into and/or onto G. mellonella.…”

mentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Recently, Abebe et al (Abebe et al, 2010) showed that by feeding C. briggsae (and other Caenorhabditis species) Serratia marcescens (Serratia sp. SCBI), they could turn a normally benign nematode into a lethal entomopathogen capable of infecting and killing wax moths (Galleria mellonella).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Abebe et al showed that C. briggsae fed Serratia sp. SCBI and then injected into insects caused toxicity (Abebe et al, 2010). Serratia sp.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Response to ‘Bugs don't make worms kill’

Abebe

Bonner

Gray

et al. 2011

Journal of Experimental Biology

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confidence: 92%

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confidence: 99%

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Response to ‘Bugs don't make worms kill’

Abebe

Bonner

Gray

et al. 2011

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…For transmission between insect hosts, the bacteria colonize the intestine of the nematode's infective juvenile stage [6][7][8] . Recently, several other nematode species have been shown to utilize bacteria to kill insects [9][10][11][12][13] , and investigations have begun examining the interactions between the nematodes and bacteria in these systems 9 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Visualizing Bacteria in Nematodes using Fluorescent Microscopy

Murfin

Chaston

Goodrich-Blair

2012

JoVE

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Symbioses, the living together of two or more organisms, are widespread throughout all kingdoms of life. As two of the most ubiquitous organisms on earth, nematodes and bacteria form a wide array of symbiotic associations that range from beneficial to pathogenic [1][2][3] . One such association is the mutually beneficial relationship between Xenorhabdus bacteria and Steinernema nematodes, which has emerged as a model system of symbiosis 4 . Steinernema nematodes are entomopathogenic, using their bacterial symbiont to kill insects 5 . For transmission between insect hosts, the bacteria colonize the intestine of the nematode's infective juvenile stage [6][7][8] . Recently, several other nematode species have been shown to utilize bacteria to kill insects [9][10][11][12][13] , and investigations have begun examining the interactions between the nematodes and bacteria in these systems 9 .We describe a method for visualization of a bacterial symbiont within or on a nematode host, taking advantage of the optical transparency of nematodes when viewed by microscopy. The bacteria are engineered to express a fluorescent protein, allowing their visualization by fluorescence microscopy. Many plasmids are available that carry genes encoding proteins that fluoresce at different wavelengths (i.e. green or red), and conjugation of plasmids from a donor Escherichia coli strain into a recipient bacterial symbiont is successful for a broad range of bacteria. The methods described were developed to investigate the association between Steinernema carpocapsae and Xenorhabdus nematophila 14 . Similar methods have been used to investigate other nematode-bacterium associations 9,[15][16][17][18] and the approach therefore is generally applicable.The method allows characterization of bacterial presence and localization within nematodes at different stages of development, providing insights into the nature of the association and the process of colonization 14,16,19 . Microscopic analysis reveals both colonization frequency within a population and localization of bacteria to host tissues 14,16,[19][20][21] . This is an advantage over other methods of monitoring bacteria within nematode populations, such as sonication 22 or grinding 23 , which can provide average levels of colonization, but may not, for example, discriminate populations with a high frequency of low symbiont loads from populations with a low frequency of high symbiont loads. Discriminating the frequency and load of colonizing bacteria can be especially important when screening or characterizing bacterial mutants for colonization phenotypes 21,24 . Indeed, fluorescence microscopy has been used in high throughput screening of bacterial mutants for defects in colonization 17,18 , and is less laborious than other methods, including sonication 22,[25][26][27] and individual nematode dissection 28,29 . Video LinkThe video component of this article can be found at

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“…It is thus overstating the case to say that C. briggsae or any other Caenorhabditis species are actually entomopathogenic nematodes. (Abebe et al, 2010). Their main thesis that "the authors have failed to demonstrate the pathogenicity of Caenorhabditis species and the symbiotic nature of this association" is incorrect.…”

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confidence: 99%