Abstract
In a process known as quorum sensing, bacteria use chemicals called autoinducers for cell-cell communication. Population-wide detection of autoinducers enables bacteria to orchestrate collective behaviors. In the animal kingdom detection of chemicals is vital for success in locating food, finding hosts, and avoiding predators. This behavior, termed chemotaxis, is especially well studied in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Here we demonstrate that the Vibrio cholerae autoinducer (S)-3-hydroxytridecan-4-one, termed CAI-1, influences chemotaxis in C. elegans. C. elegans prefers V. cholerae that produces CAI-1 over a V. cholerae mutant defective for CAI-1 production. The position of the CAI-1 ketone moiety is the key feature driving CAI-1-directed nematode behavior. CAI-1 is detected by the C. elegans amphid sensory neuron AWC(ON). Laser ablation of the AWC(ON) cell, but not other amphid sensory neurons, abolished chemoattraction to CAI-1. These analyses define the structural features of a bacterial-produced signal and the nematode chemosensory neuron that permit cross-kingdom interaction.
Highlights
The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans consumes bacteria as its sole food source
In the present study we show that C. elegans detects the CAI-1 signal, the same chemical that is used by bacteria to control QS, via the amphid sensory neuron AWCON
C. elegans Chemotact toward V. cholerae—C. elegans chemotaxis occurs to a variety of organic compounds as well as to different species of bacteria [30]
Summary
Results: The bacterium Vibrio cholerae produces a quorum-sensing signal molecule called CAI-1, which C. elegans detects through the AWCON chemosensory neuron. In the animal kingdom detection of chemicals is vital for success in locating food, finding hosts, and avoiding predators This behavior, termed chemotaxis, is especially well studied in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Laser ablation of the AWCON cell, but not other amphid sensory neurons, abolished chemoattraction to CAI-1 These analyses define the structural features of a bacterial-produced signal and the nematode chemosensory neuron that permit cross-kingdom interaction. Bacterial group behaviors are governed by quorum sensing (QS), in which bacteria produce, release, and detect extracellular signal molecules called autoinducers (AIs). In the present study we show that C. elegans detects the CAI-1 signal, the same chemical that is used by bacteria to control QS, via the amphid sensory neuron AWCON. We identify specific CAI-1 structural motifs that are required for C. elegans to detect CAI-1
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