Abstract
The bacterivorous nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is an important model species for understanding genetic variation of complex traits. So far, most studies involve axenic laboratory settings using Escherichia coli as the sole bacterial species. Over the past decade, however, investigations into the genetic variation of responses to pathogenic microbiota have increasingly received attention. Quantitative genetic analyses have revealed detailed insight into loci, genetic variants, and pathways in C. elegans underlying interactions with bacteria, microsporidia, and viruses. As various quantitative genetic platforms and resources like C. elegans Natural Diversity Resource (CeNDR) and Worm Quantitative Trait Loci (WormQTL) have been developed, we anticipate that expanding C. elegans research along the lines of genetic variation will be a treasure trove for opening up new insights into genetic pathways and gene functionality of microbiota interactions.
Highlights
Caenorhabditis elegans (Nematoda; Rhabditidae) is a cosmopolitan hermaphroditic nematode that thrives on bacteria in rotting plant material [1,2]
Quantitative genetic analyses into different C. elegans genotypes of pathogenic microbiota interactions can be complementary to studying interactions in a single genotype
Studying microbiota interactions across multiple genotypes allows for unraveling the genetic architecture of these interactions
Summary
Caenorhabditis elegans (Nematoda; Rhabditidae) is a cosmopolitan hermaphroditic nematode that thrives on bacteria in rotting plant material [1,2]. The C. elegans Natural Diversity Resource (CeNDR) was established to collect all genetic and genomic studies based on wild strains, facilitating genome-wide association studies (GWAS) [14]. CeMEE has already been applied in C. elegans research to understand the genetic basis of complex phenotypes, like fertility and the hermaphrodite body size during reproduction [11,13,17]. Another four parental population of recombinant inbred lines was derived from wild type strains that together captured genetic variation on a local scale [13]. RIL: recombinant inbred lines; IL: introgression lines; GWAS: genome wide association study
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