C. elegans and its bacterial diet as a model for systems-level understanding of host–microbiota interactions

Zhang, Jingyan; Holdorf, Amy D.; Walhout, Albertha J.M.

doi:10.1016/j.copbio.2017.01.008

Cited by 98 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…Moreover, metabolic interactions among members of the microbiota help maintain community structure, thereby preventing pathogen invasion or other dysbioses (3). C. elegans is a useful model host for microbiome studies, particularly in relation to development and host-pathogen interactions (9,10). In this study, we developed a model of metabolic microbe-host interactions and directly demonstrated that colonization with heterologous bacteria enables C. elegans to digest and incorporate carbon from 5 previously indigestible long-chain carbohydrates.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this study, we assembled a functional microbiome in a simple animal gut to allow host utilization of a complex carbohydrate source. We used the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as 20 the animal host because it has been extensively used as a model system to elucidate mechanisms of interaction between prokaryotes and their hosts (9,10). Specifically, we colonized C. elegans with cellulolytic bacteria that break down cellulose in the gut, such that the released glucose is available as a nutrient for both C. elegans itself and the colonizing bacteria.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Colonization with heterologous bacteria reprograms aCaenorhabditis elegansnutritional phenotype

Sun

Vega

Cervantes³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Animals rely on the gut microbiome to process complex food compounds that the host cannot digest and to synthesize nutrients that the host cannot produce. New systems are needed to study how the expanded metabolic capacity provided by the gut microbiome impacts the nutritional status and health of the host. Here we colonized the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans 25 gut with cellulolytic bacteria that enabled C. elegans to utilize cellulose, an otherwise indigestible substrate, as a carbon source. The nutritional benefits of colonization with cellulolytic bacteria were assayed directly, by incorporation of isotopic biomass, and indirectly, as host larval yield resulting from glucose release in the gut. As a community component in the worm gut, cellulolytic bacteria can also support additional bacterial species with specialized roles, which we demonstrate 30 by using Lactobacillus to protect against Salmonella infection. As a model system, C. elegans colonized with cellulolytic bacteria can be used to study microbiome-host interactions. Engineered microbiome communities may provide host organisms with novel functions, such as the ability to use more complex nutrient sources and to fight against pathogen infections. 35One Sentence Summary: Heterologous bacteria colonizing an animal gut help digest complex sugars to provide nutrition for the host in a model system.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Colonization with heterologous bacteria reprograms aCaenorhabditis elegansnutritional phenotype

Sun

Vega

Cervantes³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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“…Although NO molecules have high permeability through the membranes of lactobacillus and intracellular structures due to their small sizes. This result indicates that bacterial NO is generally beneficial to worms [70] indicates NO Promotes heat – tolerance (stress tolerance) in C. elegans [71–73]. …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

In vitro and in vivo defensive effect of probiotic LAB against Pseudomonas aeruginosa using Caenorhabditis elegans model

et al. 2018

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This study aimed to investigate in vitro and in vivo the probiotic characteristics of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolated from Korean traditional fermented foods. Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) was used for analytical assays of fertility, chemotaxis, life-span, worm-killing and bacterial colonization in the intestinal lumen of the worm. All 35 strains of LAB reduced fertility and slowed development in the worms. The worm-killing assay showed that LAB significantly increased the lifespan (P < 0.05) and reduced the susceptibility to virulent PA14; however, the heat-killed LAB did not. The bacterial colonization assay revealed that LAB proliferated and protected the gut of the worm against infection by Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14. In addition, specific LAB Pediococcus acidilactici(P. acidilactici DM-9), Pediococcus brevis (L. brevis SDL1411), and Pediococcus pentosaceus (P. pentosaceus SDL1409) strains showed acid resistance (66–91%), resistance to pepsin (64–67%) and viability in simulated intestinal fluid (67–73%) based on in vitro probiotic analyses. Taken together, these results suggest that C. elegans may be a tractable model for screening efficient probiotics.

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“…However, whether bacterial metabolites directly influence neuronal degeneration and their mechanisms of action is largely unknown. The bacterivore nematode C. elegans continues to provide an excellent model to study the relationship between bacteria and host [12]. Both the animal and its bacterial diet are genetically tractable making them suitable for individual gene and large-scale mutation analysis.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bacterially produced GABA protects neurons from degeneration

Urrutia

García

Fuentes-Flores

et al. 2019

Preprint

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Caenorhabditis elegans and its cognate bacterial diet comprise a reliable, widespread model to study diet and microbiota effects on host physiology. Nonetheless, how diet influences the rate at which neurons die remains largely unknown. A number of models have been used in C. elegans as surrogates for neurodegeneration. One of these is a C. elegans strain expressing a neurotoxic allele of the MEC-4(d) DEG/ENaC channel which causes the progressive degeneration of the touch receptor neurons (TRNs). Using such model, this study evaluated the effect of various dietary bacteria on neurodegeneration dynamics. While degeneration of TRNs was steadily carried and completed at adulthood in the strain routinely used for C. elegans maintenance Escherichia coli OP50, it was significantly reduced in environmental and other laboratory bacterial strains. Strikingly, neuroprotection reached more than 40% in the E. coli HT115 strain. HT115 protection was long lasting well into old age of animals and not restricted to the TRNs. Small amounts of HT115 on OP50 bacteria as well as UV-killed HT115 were still sufficient to produce neuroprotection. Early growth of worms in HT115 protected neurons from degeneration during later growth in OP50. HT115 diet promoted the nuclear translocation of the DAF-16/FOXO transcription factor, a phenomenon previously reported to underlie neuroprotection caused by downregulation of the insulin receptor in this system. Moreover, a daf-16 loss of function mutation abolishes HT115-driven neuroprotection. Comparative genomics, transcriptomics and metabolomics approaches pinpointed the neurotransmitter γ -aminobutyric acid (GABA) as a metabolite differentially produced between E. coli HT115 and OP50. HT115 mutant lacking glutamate decarboxylase enzyme genes (gad), which catalyze the conversion of GABA from glutamate, lost the ability to produce GABA and also to stop neurodegeneration. Moreover, in situ GABA supplementation or heterologous expression of glutamate decarboxylase in E. coli OP50 conferred neuroprotective activity to this strain. Specific C. elegans GABA transporters and receptors were required for full HT115-mediated neuroprotection. Together, these results demonstrate that bacterially produced GABA exerts an effect of neuroprotection in the host, highlighting the role of neuroactive compounds of the diet in nervous system homeostasis.

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C. elegans and its bacterial diet as a model for systems-level understanding of host–microbiota interactions

Cited by 98 publications

References 56 publications

Colonization with heterologous bacteria reprograms aCaenorhabditis elegansnutritional phenotype

Colonization with heterologous bacteria reprograms aCaenorhabditis elegansnutritional phenotype

In vitro and in vivo defensive effect of probiotic LAB against Pseudomonas aeruginosa using Caenorhabditis elegans model

Bacterially produced GABA protects neurons from degeneration

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