Project description:Across metazoans, innate immunity is vital in defending organisms against viral infection. In mammals, antiviral innate immunity is orchestrated by interferon signaling, activating the STAT transcription factors downstream of the JAK kinases to induce expression of antiviral effector genes. In the nematode C. elegans, which lacks the interferon system, the major antiviral response so far described is RNA interference but whether additional gene expression responses are employed is not known. Here we show that, despite the absence of both interferon and JAK, the C. elegans STAT homologue STA-1 orchestrates antiviral immunity. Intriguingly, mutants lacking STA-1 show increased resistance to antiviral infection. Using gene expression analysis and chromatin immunoprecipitation we show that, in contrast to the mammalian pathway, STA-1 acts as a transcriptional repressor. Thus STA-1 might act to suppress a constitutive antiviral response in the absence of infection. Using a reverse genetic screen we identify the SID-3 as a kinase upstream of STA-1 in the response to infection. Together, our work identifies a novel STAT regulatory cascade controlling its activity in antiviral resistance, illustrating the complex evolutionary trajectory displayed by innate immune signaling pathways across metazoan organisms.
Project description:Across metazoans, innate immunity is vital in defending organisms against viral infection. In mammals, antiviral innate immunity is orchestrated by interferon signaling, activating the STAT transcription factors downstream of the JAK kinases to induce expression of antiviral effector genes. In the nematode C. elegans, which lacks the interferon system, the major antiviral response so far described is RNA interference but whether additional gene expression responses are employed is not known. Here we show that, despite the absence of both interferon and JAK, the C. elegans STAT homologue STA-1 orchestrates antiviral immunity. Intriguingly, mutants lacking STA-1 show increased resistance to antiviral infection. Using gene expression analysis and chromatin immunoprecipitation we show that, in contrast to the mammalian pathway, STA-1 acts as a transcriptional repressor. Thus STA-1 might act to suppress a constitutive antiviral response in the absence of infection. Using a reverse genetic screen we identify the SID-3 as a kinase upstream of STA-1 in the response to infection. Together, our work identifies a novel STAT regulatory cascade controlling its activity in antiviral resistance, illustrating the complex evolutionary trajectory displayed by innate immune signaling pathways across metazoan organisms.
Project description:Microbes associated with an organism can significantly modulate its susceptibility to viral infections, but our understanding of the influence of individual microbes remains limited. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is a model organism that in nature inhabits environments rich in bacteria. Here, we examine the impact of 71 naturally associated bacteria on C. elegans susceptibility to its only known natural virus, the Orsay virus. Our findings reveal that viral infection of C. elegans is significantly influenced by monobacterial environments. Compared to an Escherichia coli environmental reference, the majority of tested bacteria reduced C. elegans susceptibility to viral infection. This reduction is not caused by virion degradation or poor animal nutrition by the bacteria. The repression of viral infection by the bacterial strains Chryseobacterium JUb44 and Sphingobacterium BIGb0172 does not require the RIG-I homolog DRH-1, which is known to activate antiviral responses such as RNA interference and transcriptional regulation. Our research highlights the necessity of considering natural biotic environments in viral infection studies and opens the way future research on host-microbe-virus interactions.
Project description:The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has been a versatile model for understanding the molecular responses to abiotic stress and pathogens. In particular, the response to heat stress and virus infection has been studied in detail. The Orsay virus (OrV) is a natural virus of C. elegans and infection leads to intracellular infection and proteostatic stress, which activates the intracellular pathogen response (IPR). IPR related gene expression is regulated by the genes pals-22 and pals-25, which also control thermotolerance and immunity against other natural pathogens. So far, we have a limited understanding of the molecular responses upon the combined exposure to heat stress and virus infection. We test the hypothesis that the response of C. elegans to OrV infection and heat stress are co-regulated and may affect each other. We conducted a combined heat-stress-virus infection assay and found that after applying heat stress, the susceptibility of C. elegans to OrV was decreased. This difference was found across different wild types of C. elegans. Transcriptome analysis revealed a list of potential candidate genes associated with heat stress and OrV infection. Subsequent mutant screens suggest that pals-22 provides a link between viral response and heat stress, leading to enhanced OrV tolerance of C. elegans after heat stress.
Project description:Orsay virus (OrV) is the first virus known to be able to complete a full infection cycle in the model nematode species Caenorhabditis elegans. OrV is transmitted horizontally and its infection is limited by antiviral RNA interference (RNAi). However, we have no insight into the kinetics of OrV replication in C. elegans. We developed an assay that infects worms in liquid, allowing precise monitoring of the infection. The assay revealed a dual role for the RNAi response in limiting Orsay virus infection in C. elegans. Firstly, it limits the progression of the initial infection at the step of recognition of dsRNA. Secondly, it provides an inherited protection against infection in the offspring. This establishes the heritable RNAi response as anti-viral mechanism during OrV infections in C. elegans. Our results further illustrate that the inheritance of the anti-viral response is important in controlling the infection in the canonical wild type Bristol N2. The OrV replication kinetics were established throughout the worm life-cycle, setting a standard for further quantitative assays with the OrV-C. elegans infection model.
Project description:The microbiota is a key determinant of the physiology and immunity of animal hosts. The factors governing the transmissibility of viruses between susceptible hosts are incompletely understood. Bacteria serve as food for Caenorhabditis elegans and represent an integral part of the natural environment of C. elegans. We determined the effects of bacteria isolated with C. elegans from its natural environment on the transmission of Orsay virus in C. elegans using quantitative virus transmission and host susceptibility assays. We observed that Ochrobactrum species promoted Orsay virus transmission, whereas Pseudomonas lurida MYb11 attenuated virus transmission relative to the standard laboratory bacterial food Escherichia coli OP50. We found that pathogenic Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains PA01 and PA14 further attenuated virus transmission. We determined that the amount of Orsay virus required to infect 50% of a C. elegans population on P. lurida MYb11 compared with Ochrobactrum vermis MYb71 was dramatically increased, over three orders of magnitude. Host susceptibility was attenuated even further in the presence of P. aeruginosa PA14. Genetic analysis of the determinants of P. aeruginosa required for attenuation of C. elegans susceptibility to Orsay virus infection revealed a role for regulators of quorum sensing. Our data suggest that distinct constituents of the C. elegans microbiota and potential pathogens can have widely divergent effects on Orsay virus transmission, such that associated bacteria can effectively determine host susceptibility versus resistance to viral infection. Our study provides quantitative evidence for a critical role for tripartite host-virus-bacteria interactions in determining the transmissibility of viruses among susceptible hosts.
Project description:The status of intestinal microbiota is a determinant of host health. However, the alteration of the gut microbiota caused by the innate immune response to virus infection is unclear. Caenorhabditis elegans and its natural virus Orsay provide an excellent model of host-virus interactions. We evaluated the intestinal microbial community complexity of the wild-type N2 and the innate immunity-deficient mutant rde-1 (ne219) strains of C. elegans upon Orsay virus infection. The gut microbiota diversity was decreased in rde-1 (ne219) mutant animals, and a large number of genes were associated with the difference between infected and uninfected rde-1 (ne219) mutant animals. Therefore, this study provides the first evaluation of the alterations caused by Orsay virus on intestinal microbiota in wildtype and innate immunity-deficient animals using C. elegans as the model species. Our findings indicate that virus infection may alters the microbiome in animals with defective immune response.
Project description:The recent identification of Orsay virus, the first virus that is capable of naturally infecting Caenorhabditis elegans, provides a unique opportunity to explore host-virus interaction studies in this invaluable model organism. A key feature of this system is the robust genetic tractability of the host, C. elegans, which would ideally be complemented by the ability to genetically manipulate Orsay virus in parallel. To this end, we developed a plasmid-based reverse genetics system for Orsay virus by creating transgenic C. elegans strains harboring Orsay virus cDNAs. Both wild-type and mutant Orsay viruses, including a FLAG epitope-tagged recombinant Orsay virus, were generated by use of the reverse genetics system. This is the first plasmid-based virus reverse genetics system in the metazoan C. elegans. The Orsay virus reverse genetics we established will serve as a fundamental tool in host-virus interaction studies in the model organism C. elegans. Importance: To date, Orsay virus is the first and the only identified virus capable of naturally infecting Caenorhabditis elegans. C. elegans is a simple multicellular model organism that mimics many fundamental features of human biology and has been used to define many biological properties conserved through evolution. Thus, the Orsay virus-C. elegans infection system provides a unique opportunity to study host-virus interactions. In order to take maximal advantage of this system, the ability to genetically engineer mutant forms of Orsay virus would be highly desirable. Most efforts to engineer viruses have been done with cultured cells. Here we describe the creation of mutant viruses directly in the multicellular organism C. elegans without the use of cell culture. We engineered a virus expressing a genetically tagged protein that could be detected in C. elegans. This provides proof of concept for modifying Orsay virus, which will greatly facilitate studies in this experimental system.
Project description:Orsay virus (OrV) is the only known natural virus affecting Caenorhabditis elegans, with minimal impact on the animal's fitness due to its robust innate immune response. This study aimed to understand the interactions between C. elegans and OrV by tracking the infection's progression during larval development. Four distinct stages of infection were identified on the basis of viral load, with a peak in capsid-encoding RNA2 coinciding with the first signs of viral egression. Transcriptomic analysis revealed temporal changes in gene expression and functions induced by the infection. A specific set of up-regulated genes remained active throughout the infection, and genes correlated and anticorrelated with virus accumulation were identified. Responses to OrV mirrored reactions to other biotic stressors, distinguishing between virus-specific responses and broader immune responses. Moreover, mutants of early response genes and defense-related processes showed altered viral load progression, uncovering additional players in the antiviral defense response.