<i>Caenorhabditis</i> evolution in the wild

Cutter, Asher D.

doi:10.1002/bies.201500053

Cited by 61 publications

(103 citation statements)

References 131 publications

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“…ausubeli [22,51]. Because wild nematodes naturally live in habitats with various microbes [16,17], the microsporidia-infected nematode cultures generally originally contained other microbes, such as bacteria, fungi, or even viruses. In order to obtain a relatively pure microsporidian spore preparation, we treated the nematode cultures repeatedly with antibiotics (100 ug/ml gentamycin, 50 ug/ml Ampicillin, 50 ug/ml Kanamycin, 20 ug/ml Tetracycline, and 50 ug/ml streptomycin), monitoring the presence of non- E .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Large Collection of Novel Nematode-Infecting Microsporidia and Their Diverse Interactions with Caenorhabditis elegans and Other Related Nematodes

Zhang

Sachse²,

Prévost³

et al. 2016

PLoS Pathog

176

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Microsporidia are fungi-related intracellular pathogens that may infect virtually all animals, but are poorly understood. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has recently become a model host for studying microsporidia through the identification of its natural microsporidian pathogen Nematocida parisii. However, it was unclear how widespread and diverse microsporidia infections are in C. elegans or other related nematodes in the wild. Here we describe the isolation and culture of 47 nematodes with microsporidian infections. N. parisii is found to be the most common microsporidia infecting C. elegans in the wild. In addition, we further describe and name six new species in the Nematocida genus. Our sampling and phylogenetic analysis further identify two subclades that are genetically distinct from Nematocida, and we name them Enteropsectra and Pancytospora. Interestingly, unlike Nematocida, these two genera belong to the main clade of microsporidia that includes human pathogens. All of these microsporidia are horizontally transmitted and most specifically infect intestinal cells, except Pancytospora epiphaga that replicates mostly in the epidermis of its Caenorhabditis host. At the subcellular level in the infected host cell, spores of the novel genus Enteropsectra show a characteristic apical distribution and exit via budding off of the plasma membrane, instead of exiting via exocytosis as spores of Nematocida. Host specificity is broad for some microsporidia, narrow for others: indeed, some microsporidia can infect Oscheius tipulae but not its sister species Oscheius sp. 3, and conversely some microsporidia found infecting Oscheius sp. 3 do not infect O. tipulae. We also show that N. ausubeli fails to strongly induce in C. elegans the transcription of genes that are induced by other Nematocida species, suggesting it has evolved mechanisms to prevent induction of this host response. Altogether, these newly isolated species illustrate the diversity and ubiquity of microsporidian infections in nematodes, and provide a rich resource to investigate host-parasite coevolution in tractable nematode hosts.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With an improved understanding of the natural history of Caenorhabditis [16,17], dramatically increased number of various wild rhabditid nematode strains and species have been isolated and identified. C .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Large Collection of Novel Nematode-Infecting Microsporidia and Their Diverse Interactions with Caenorhabditis elegans and Other Related Nematodes

Zhang

Sachse²,

Prévost³

et al. 2016

PLoS Pathog

176

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“…Conditions such as extreme temperatures, scarce food, and high population density cause C. elegans to enter a nonfeeding life stage known as dauer, in which larvae are resistant to environmental stresses and starvation. Dauer larvae actively seek invertebrate vectors for long‐distance dispersal to new bacterial blooms through nictation behavior, in which they stand on their tails and wave their heads (Cutter, 2015; Felix & Braendle, 2010; Frezal & Felix, 2015). Caenorhabditis elegans has an androdioecious mating system with males and self‐fertilizing hermaphrodites.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Turnover in local parasite populations temporarily favors host outcrossing over self‐fertilization during experimental evolution

Lynch

Penley

Morran

2018

Ecology and Evolution

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The ubiquity of outcrossing in plants and animals is difficult to explain given its costs relative to self‐fertilization. Despite these costs, exposure to changing environmental conditions can temporarily favor outcrossing over selfing. Therefore, recurring episodes of environmental change are predicted to favor the maintenance of outcrossing. Studies of host–parasite coevolution have provided strong support for this hypothesis. However, it is unclear whether multiple exposures to novel parasite genotypes in the absence of coevolution are sufficient to favor outcrossing. Using the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans and the bacterial parasite Serratia marcescens, we studied host responses to parasite turnover. We passaged several replicates of a host population that was well‐adapted to the S. marcescens strain Sm2170 with either Sm2170 or one of three novel S. marcescens strains, each derived from Sm2170, for 18 generations. We found that hosts exposed to novel parasites maintained higher outcrossing rates than hosts exposed to Sm2170. Nonetheless, host outcrossing rates declined over time against all but the most virulent novel parasite strain. Hosts exposed to the most virulent novel strain exhibited increased outcrossing rates for approximately 12 generations, but did not maintain elevated levels of outcrossing throughout the experiment. Thus, parasite turnover can transiently increase host outcrossing. These results suggest that recurring episodes of parasite turnover have the potential to favor the maintenance of host outcrossing. However, such maintenance may require frequent exposure to novel virulent parasites, rapid rates of parasite turnover, and substantial host gene flow.

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“…C. elegans , thus, adopts a boom-and-bust life cycle that is strongly dependent on its environment (Félix and Braendle 2010; Félix and Duveau 2012; Cutter 2015; Frézal and Félix 2015). Patches of rotting plant material enable fast C. elegans population growth with direct development, while resource exhaustion leads to entry into the dauer stage and migration toward a new resource patch.…”

Section: Habitats and Substratesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Natural Biotic Environment ofCaenorhabditis elegans

2017

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Organisms evolve in response to their natural environment. Consideration of natural ecological parameters are thus of key importance for our understanding of an organism’s biology. Curiously, the natural ecology of the model species Caenorhabditis elegans has long been neglected, even though this nematode has become one of the most intensively studied models in biological research. This lack of interest changed ∼10 yr ago. Since then, an increasing number of studies have focused on the nematode’s natural ecology. Yet many unknowns still remain. Here, we provide an overview of the currently available information on the natural environment of C. elegans. We focus on the biotic environment, which is usually less predictable and thus can create high selective constraints that are likely to have had a strong impact on C. elegans evolution. This nematode is particularly abundant in microbe-rich environments, especially rotting plant matter such as decomposing fruits and stems. In this environment, it is part of a complex interaction network, which is particularly shaped by a species-rich microbial community. These microbes can be food, part of a beneficial gut microbiome, parasites and pathogens, and possibly competitors. C. elegans is additionally confronted with predators; it interacts with vector organisms that facilitate dispersal to new habitats, and also with competitors for similar food environments, including competitors from congeneric and also the same species. Full appreciation of this nematode’s biology warrants further exploration of its natural environment and subsequent integration of this information into the well-established laboratory-based research approaches.

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Caenorhabditis evolution in the wild

Cited by 61 publications

References 131 publications

A Large Collection of Novel Nematode-Infecting Microsporidia and Their Diverse Interactions with Caenorhabditis elegans and Other Related Nematodes

A Large Collection of Novel Nematode-Infecting Microsporidia and Their Diverse Interactions with Caenorhabditis elegans and Other Related Nematodes

Turnover in local parasite populations temporarily favors host outcrossing over self‐fertilization during experimental evolution

The Natural Biotic Environment ofCaenorhabditis elegans

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