C. elegans to-go microbes from slugs

 By. Sangwon Sloman-Moll

The figure shows the persistency of microbes through slugs to c. elegans; MYb115 is shown with green color from slug to c. elegans, and MYb 11 is shown with red color from slug to c. elegans. The color represent the presence of the microbes in the organism. Figure taken from Pees el al. 2021.

C. elegans is one of common model organism that used by researchers for human genome, and it is functional counterparts in humans which makes it an extremely useful model for human diseases. Microbes are also close related with human diseases. The paper by Pees and colleagues shows microbes can be persisted through organism to another organism. C. elegans use slug as a vector. However, C. elegans also acquire microbes from the vector. Pee and collagues compared C. elegans gut microbiomes isolated from wild-caught slugs to the microbiomes of worms after experimental slug passage to compare similarities and differences in microbiome composition. They found that microbiota persists in C. elegans while passing the slug gut and that worms simultaneously acquire additional bacteria species from the slug which shows on the figure. Therefore, the result demonstrates that C. elegans can take advantage of its passage through the slug by acquiring new potential microbiota without losing its native microbiota. The research about microbes on C. elegans recently started, yet studying the microbes on the C. elegans can advance the knowledge of microbes that persistence through different organisms. The future research on the subject would be the key to find the solution for parasite disease caused by the microbes.

Original article:

Pees, B., Johnke, J., Möhl, M., Hamerich, I.K., Leippe, M. and Petersen, C. (2021), Microbes to-go: slugs as source for Caenorhabditis elegans microbiota acquisition. Environ Microbiol. https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.15730