Abstract
Phoresy is a behavior in which an organism, the phoront, travels from one location to another by 'hitching a ride' on the body of a host as it disperses. Some phoronts are generalists, taking advantage of any available host. Others are specialists and travel only when specific hosts are located using chemical cues to identify and move (chemotax) toward the preferred host. Free-living nematodes, like Caenorhabditis elegans, are often found in natural environments that contain terrestrial isopods and other invertebrates. Additionally, the C. elegans wild strain PB306 was isolated associated with the isopod Porcellio scaber. However, it is currently unclear if C. elegans is a phoront of terrestrial isopods, and if so, whether it is a specialist, generalist, or developmental stage-specific combination of both strategies. Because the relevant chemical stimuli might be secreted compounds or volatile odorants, we used different types of chemotaxis assays across diverse extractions of compounds or odorants to test whether C. elegans is attracted to P. scaber. We show that two different strains-the wild isolate PB306 and the laboratory-adapted strain N2 -are not attracted to P. scaber during either the dauer or adult life stages. Our results indicate that C. elegans was not attracted to chemical compounds or volatile odorants from P. scaber, providing valuable empirical evidence to suggest that any associations between these two species are likely opportunistic rather than specific phoresy.
Highlights
A phoretic animal, or phoront, hitches a temporary ride on a host in order to disperse to new locations
We tested two different genetic backgrounds and different developmental stages. Across all these different conditions, our results indicate that C. elegans was not attracted to chemical compounds or volatile odorants from the isopod P. scaber, providing valuable empirical evidence to suggest that any associations between these two species are likely opportunistic
The canonical C. elegans strain, N2, has been continuously domesticated in a laboratory environment since its initial isolation from mushroom compost in 1951 [15]. This long-term propagation caused the accumulation of laboratory-derived alleles with associated phenotypic effects, and any research to understand C. elegans behavior in the wild must take this potential limitation into consideration
Summary
A phoretic animal, or phoront, hitches a temporary ride on a host in order to disperse to new locations. They must rely on the movement of a more mobile host, e.g. mites traveling via beetles or lice hitching a ride on hippoboscid flies [1,2]. Animals with such low mobility often have a fitness advantage if they disperse to new habitats because dispersal reduces competition for food and/or mates, helps individuals avoid predation, and can facilitate increased gene flow between populations thereby reducing an accumulation of deleterious
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