2024/10/15
paper · doi:10.17912/micropub.biology.001325
<p>Microsporidia are common natural pathogens of the nematode <i><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?mode=Info&id=6239" id="8089c2a7-5abf-4077-bb10-5832c4a93a30">Caenorhabditis elegans</a></i>. Infection of <i><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?mode=Info&id=6239" id="988aa5a6-ab96-4d1f-9294-162ca415b9f8">C. elegans</a></i> by the microsporidian species <i><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?mode=Info&id=586133" id="4158db4b-8fc9-4d48-96c1-b4711ecaa753">Nematocida parisii</a> </i>leads to induction of the Intracellular Pathogen Response (IPR), including transcriptional upregulation of 26 <i>pals</i> genes. The divergent ‘<i>pals</i>' sequence signature is conserved with humans, but PALS proteins have unknown biochemical functions. So far, none of the 26 induced <i>pals</i> genes have a demonstrated role in immunity. Here, we use RNAseq data, RNA interference, and CRISPR/Cas9 mutant analysis to identify the <i>N. parisii</i>-induced <i><a href="http://www.wormbase.org/db/get?name=WBGene00009061;class=Gene" id="20f62d5b-e472-41ad-82f2-583a93650f87">pals-14</a></i> gene as an immune gene that provides defense against microsporidia infection in <i><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?mode=Info&id=6239" id="3dfb6c20-09a5-4582-8a36-857382c88279">C. elegans</a></i>.</p>