Influence of planktonic and sessile Listeria monocytogenes on Caenorhabditis elegans
- PDF / 317,472 Bytes
- 8 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 33 Downloads / 243 Views
ORIGINAL PAPER
Influence of planktonic and sessile Listeria monocytogenes on Caenorhabditis elegans Sujay Guha • Miranda Klees • Xiaoxia Wang Jing Li • Yuqing Dong • Min Cao
•
Received: 27 April 2012 / Revised: 13 August 2012 / Accepted: 21 August 2012 / Published online: 9 September 2012 Ó Springer-Verlag 2012
Abstract Listeria monocytogenes is the etiologic agent of listeriosis, a food-borne disease affecting humans and a variety of animals. In order to combat this pathogen, it is crucial to have an understanding of its natural interplay with the environment. For this reason, the free soil nematode Caenorhabditis elegans was focused upon because of its shared natural habitat with Listeria and its potential as a model organism for Listeria pathogenesis. Previous studies have generated some contradictory results on Listeria’s ability to kill C. elegans, making additional interaction studies such as this more attractive. In our study, we carried out a series of killing assays in a systematic manner using different Listeria strains under different growth conditions. In addition to studying the effects of planktonic cells, we examined the interaction between C. elegans and sessile listerial cells. Our findings suggest that, rather than causing infection and death, L. monocytogenes may extend the life span of C. elegans. This indicates that Listeria is not pathogenic to C. elegans. We also found that C. elegans can feed and ingest sessile cells, as well as carry the The authors Sujay Guha and Miranda Klees contributed equally to this work. Communicated by John Helmann. S. Guha M. Klees X. Wang J. Li Y. Dong (&) M. Cao (&) Department of Biological Sciences, Clemson University, 132 Long Hall, Clemson, SC 29634, USA e-mail: [email protected] M. Cao e-mail: [email protected] Y. Dong M. Cao Institute for Engaged Aging, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634, USA
pathogen in its gut, implying that C. elegans could be a vehicle for L. monocytogenes spread in the environment. Keywords Listeria monocytogenes PrfA Caenorhabditis elegans Life span Mutualism Model system
Introduction As the etiologic agent of listeriosis, Listeria monocytogenes is a dangerous food-borne pathogen owing to its ability to survive and grow in a wide range of environmental conditions (Cole et al. 1990). The parasitic mechanism of L. monocytogenes intracellular survival has been explored extensively (Joseph and Goebel 2007; Vazquez-Boland et al. 2001). Mammalian models such as mice and guinea pigs have also been established and results obtained from the animal studies have greatly enriched our knowledge in L. monocytogenes pathogenesis (Lecuit 2007). Meanwhile, scientists have been seeking a more efficient and economically favorable system in which to study the nature of the interactions between L. monocytogenes and its host organism. The soil nematode Caenorhabditis elegans provides such a system. C. elegans possesses many attractive features (such as short life span, easy cultivation and maintenance, and genetic tractability),
Data Loading...
