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Updated: Jun 17, 2026

The Nematode Caenorhabditis Elegans - A Versatile In Vivo Model to Study Host-microbe Interactions
Published on: October 18, 2017
Evolution of host innate defence: insights from Caenorhabditis elegans and primitive invertebrates
Javier E Irazoqui1, Jonathan M Urbach, Frederick M Ausubel
1Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA.
Abstract:
The genetically tractable model organism Caenorhabditis elegans was first used to model bacterial virulence in vivo a decade ago. Since then, great strides have been made in identifying the host response pathways that are involved in its defence against infection. Strikingly, C. elegans seems to detect, and respond to, infection without the involvement of its homologue of Toll-like receptors, in contrast to the well-established role for these proteins in innate immunity in mammals. What, therefore, do we know about host defence mechanisms in C. elegans and what can they tell us about innate immunity in higher organisms?
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