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Updated: Jul 31, 2026

Automated Separation of C. elegans Variably Colonized by a Bacterial Pathogen
Published on: March 21, 2014
A conserved p38 MAP kinase pathway in Caenorhabditis elegans innate immunity
Dennis H Kim1, Rhonda Feinbaum, Geneviève Alloing
1Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
Abstract:
A genetic screen for Caenorhabditis elegans mutants with enhanced susceptibility to killing by Pseudomonas aeruginosa led to the identification of two genes required for pathogen resistance: sek-1, which encodes a mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase kinase, and nsy-1, which encodes a MAP kinase kinase kinase. RNA interference assays and biochemical analysis established that a p38 ortholog, pmk-1, functions as the downstream MAP kinase required for pathogen defense. These data suggest that this MAP kinase signaling cassette represents an ancient feature of innate immune responses in evolutionarily diverse species.
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