Trade‐offs in defence to pathogen species revealed in expanding nematode populations

Many host organisms live in polymicrobial environments and must respond to a diversity of pathogens. The degree to which host defences towards one pathogen species affect susceptibility to others is unclear. We used a panel of Caenorhabditis elegans nematode isolates to test for natural genetic vari...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of evolutionary biology 2022-07, Vol.35 (7), p.1002-1011
Main Authors: Ordovás‐Montañés, María, Preston, Gail M., Hoang, Kim L., Rafaluk‐Mohr, Charlotte, King, Kayla C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
C. elegans
defences
Exposure
Fitness
Genetic diversity
Genotypes
Heat
host‐pathogen interactions
Impact damage
life‐history evolution
Nematodes
Offspring
Pathogens
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
reproduction
Reproductive fitness
Species
Staphylococcus aureus
trade‐offs
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Summary:Many host organisms live in polymicrobial environments and must respond to a diversity of pathogens. The degree to which host defences towards one pathogen species affect susceptibility to others is unclear. We used a panel of Caenorhabditis elegans nematode isolates to test for natural genetic variation in fitness costs of immune upregulation and pathogen damage, as well as for trade‐offs in defence against two pathogen species, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We examined the fitness impacts of transient pathogen exposure (pathogen damage and immune upregulation) or exposure to heat‐killed culture (immune upregulation only) by measuring host population sizes, which allowed us to simultaneously capture changes in reproductive output, developmental time and survival. We found significant decreases in population sizes for hosts exposed to live versus heat‐killed S. aureus and found increased reproductive output after live P. aeruginosa exposure, compared with the corresponding heat‐killed challenge. Nematode isolates with relatively higher population sizes after live P. aeruginosa infection produced fewer offspring after live S. aureus challenge. These findings reveal that wild C. elegans genotypes display a trade‐off in defences against two distinct pathogen species that are evident in subsequent generations. Many organisms live in environments where they are exposed to a diversity of pathogens. We used a panel of wild Caenorhabditis elegans nematode isolates to test for natural genetic variation in response to two pathogen species. We found host genotypes traded‐off in defence against the two pathogens with impacts on subsequent generations.
ISSN:1010-061X
1420-9101
DOI:10.1111/jeb.14023