Innate Immunity in the C. elegans Intestine Is Programmed by a Neuronal Regulator of AWC Olfactory Neuron Development

Overview

Journal Cell Rep

Publisher Cell Press

Specialties Biology
Cell Biology
Molecular Biology

Date 2020 Apr 9

PMID 32268082

Citations 28

Authors

Kyle J Foster

Hilary K Cheesman

Pengpeng Liu

Nicholas D Peterson

Sarah M Anderson

Read Pukkila-Worley

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Olfactory neurons allow animals to discriminate nutritious food sources from potential pathogens. From a forward genetic screen, we uncovered a surprising requirement for the olfactory neuron gene olrn-1 in the regulation of intestinal epithelial immunity in Caenorhabditis elegans. During nematode development, olrn-1 is required to program the expression of odorant receptors in the AWC olfactory neuron pair. Here, we show that olrn-1 also functions in AWC neurons in the cell non-autonomous suppression of the canonical p38 MAPK PMK-1 immune pathway in the intestine. Low activity of OLRN-1, which activates the p38 MAPK signaling cassette in AWC neurons during larval development, also de-represses the p38 MAPK PMK-1 pathway in the intestine to promote immune effector transcription, increased clearance of an intestinal pathogen, and resistance to bacterial infection. These data reveal an unexpected connection between olfactory receptor development and innate immunity and show that anti-pathogen defenses in the intestine are developmentally programmed.

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