Studies on reproductive stress caused by candidate Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria using model organism, Caenorhabditis elegans

Abstract

Microbial association with a host using model system C. elegans have been widely studied based on factors such as host survival, the mode of infection, disease pathogenesis and the role of various players regulated during infection. The influence of pathogenic microorganism on reproduction and associated issues has not been explored fully. The present study focuses on the impact of bacterial infection on male reproductive parameters such as spermatogenesis and spermiogenesis, including physiological aspects like tail morphology defect and underlying molecular mechanisms that have been perturbed. In order to compare the consequence of infection caused by Gram positive and negative bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus and Vibrio alginolyticus were chosen as candidate pathogens, respectively. Microscopic observations revealed notable changes in tail morphology during 24 h of infection, as along with change in sperm size and activation. The Real Time-PCR results suggest the plausible down regulation of DBL-1/TGF–β pathway suggesting the morphological change in the tail. Shotgun proteomics further lead to the identification of MAG-1, Magonashi Protein a candidate regulatory player that affects spermatogenesis and HIF-1 that regulate during stress in both Gram positive and Gram negative infection. The protein-protein interaction with detected proteins revealed RACK-1 protein and mTOR pathway in S. aureus and V. alginolyticus respectively interacting with MAG-1 protein, which plays an important role in spermatogenesis termination in hermaphrodites during L4 to adult switch. This study paves a way to understand the candidate players that regulate reproduction during bacterial infection.