automated-separation-c-elegans-variably-colonized-bacterial

Automated Separation of <em>C. elegans</em> Variably Colonized by a Bacterial Pathogen

The wormsorter is an instrument analogous to a FACS machine that is used in studies of Caenorhabditis elegans, typically to sort worms based on expression ...

University of California, Berkeley

To implement an automated pharmacy dispensing prioritization system and to evaluate its effect on the timing of dispensing and administration of chemotherapy.

No time to waste: decreasing patient wait times for chemotherapy administration using automated prioritization in an oncology pharmacy system.

The importance of our inner microbial communities for proper immune responses against invading pathogens is now well accepted, but the mechanisms underlying this protection are largely unknown. In this study, we used Caenorhabditis elegans to investigate such mechanisms. Since very little is known about the microbes interacting with C. elegans in its natural environment, we began by taking the first steps to characterize the C. elegans microbiota. We established a natural-like environment in which initially germfree, wild-type larvae were grown on enriched soil. Bacterial members of the adult C. elegans microbiota were isolated by culture and identified using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Using pure cultures of bacterial isolates as food, we identified two, Bacillus megaterium and Pseudomonas mendocina, that enhanced resistance to a subsequent infection with the Gram-negative pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Whereas protection by B. megaterium was linked to impaired egg laying, corresponding to a known trade-off between fecundity and resistance, the mechanism underlying protection conferred by P. mendocina depended on weak induction of immune genes regulated by the p38 MAPK pathway. Disruption of the p38 ortholog, pmk-1, abolished protection. P. mendocina enhanced resistance to P. aeruginosa but not to the Gram-positive pathogen Enterococcus faecalis. Furthermore, protection from P. aeruginosa was similarly induced by a P. aeruginosa gacA mutant with attenuated virulence but not by a different C. elegans-associated Pseudomonas sp. isolate. Our results support a pivotal role for the conserved p38 pathway in microbiota-initiated immune protection and suggest that similarity between microbiota members and pathogens may play a role in such protection.

Association with soil bacteria enhances p38-dependent infection resistance in Caenorhabditis elegans.

The period of insect activity (PIA) contributes information to estimates of the minimum postmortem interval in forensic investigations and begins with blow fly attraction and oviposition on a resource such as carrion or a human corpse. Incorrectly estimating nocturnal oviposition could alter PIA estimates by up to at least 12 h; however, the extent of this difference in PIA would depend on environmental and geographic factors. To date, the literature on the extent and frequency of blow fly nocturnal oviposition is conflicting. Our objectives were as follows: 1) to measure the effects of artificial lighting and beef liver bait height above ground on nocturnal and diurnal oviposition, and 2) to monitor oviposition through the night on swine carcasses exposed to the environment at dusk in different habitats over 3 yr. We documented no consistent nocturnal oviposition in any trial using beef liver or on carcasses in different habitats and seasons. There were statistically significant effects of light and height of bait above the ground on diurnal oviposition of Phormia regina (Meigen) in August of 2009, the only month with mean night temperatures > 20 degrees C. In August there also was significantly greater diurnal oviposition on liver bait placed on the ground compared with bait elevated 1 m. Our results suggest that nocturnal oviposition is rare in the natural environment. However, we found enhanced diurnal oviposition of P. regina under conditions of ambient temperatures > 20 degrees C the night before oviposition. Additional studies are needed to better understand the ecological mechanisms governing blow fly oviposition important to forensic entomology.

Maureen Berg

Department of Integrative Biology

University of California, Berkeley

Automated Separation of C. elegans Variably Colonized by a Bacterial Pathogen