Pseudomonas aeruginosa Suppresses Host Immunity by Activating the DAF-2 Insulin-Like Signaling Pathway in Caenorhabditis elegans

PLoS Pathogens

Man-Wah Tan¹  Eric A. Evans¹  Trupti Kawli¹ 

[1] Department of Genetics and Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, United States of America

关键词: Pseudomonas aeruginosa;    Caenorhabditis elegans;    Gastrointestinal tract;    Gene expression;    RNA interference;    Immune response;    Immune suppression;    MAPK signaling cascades;   

DOI  :  10.1371/journal.ppat.1000175

学科分类：生物科学（综合）

来源: Public Library of Science

【 摘 要 】

Some pathogens have evolved mechanisms to overcome host immune defenses by inhibiting host defense signaling pathways and suppressing the expression of host defense effectors. We present evidence that Pseudomonas aeruginosa is able to suppress the expression of a subset of immune defense genes in the animal host Caenorhabditis elegans by activating the DAF-2/DAF-16 insulin-like signaling pathway. The DAF-2/DAF-16 pathway is important for the regulation of many aspects of organismal physiology, including metabolism, stress response, longevity, and immune function. We show that intestinal expression of DAF-16 is required for resistance to P. aeruginosa and that the suppression of immune defense genes is dependent on the insulin-like receptor DAF-2 and the FOXO transcription factor DAF-16. By visualizing the subcellular localization of DAF-16::GFP fusion protein in live animals during infection, we show that P. aeruginosa–mediated downregulation of a subset of immune genes is associated with the ability to translocate DAF-16 from the nuclei of intestinal cells. Suppression of DAF-16 is mediated by an insulin-like peptide, INS-7, which functions upstream of DAF-2. Both the inhibition of DAF-16 and downregulation of DAF-16–regulated genes, such as thn-2, lys-7, and spp-1, require the P. aeruginosa two-component response regulator GacA and the quorum-sensing regulators LasR and RhlR and are not observed during infection with Salmonella typhimurium or Enterococcus faecalis. Our results reveal a new mechanism by which P. aeruginosa suppresses host immune defense.

【 授权许可】

CC BY