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Updated: Nov 30, 2025

High-Throughput Screening of Microbial Isolates with Impact on Caenorhabditis elegans Health
Published on: April 28, 2022
Interactions with a Complex Microbiota Mediate a Trade-Off between the Host Development Rate and Heat Stress
Samuel Slowinski1,2, Isabella Ramirez1, Vivek Narayan1
1Department of Integrative Biology, 3040 Valley Life Sciences Building, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3140, USA.
Abstract:
Animals and plants host diverse communities of microorganisms, and these microbiotas have been shown to influence host life history traits. Much has been said about the benefits that host-associated microbiotas bestow on the host. However, life history traits often demonstrate tradeoffs among one another. Raising Caenorhabditis elegans nematodes in compost microcosms emulating their natural environment, we examined how complex microbiotas affect host life history traits. We show that soil microbes usually increase the host development rate but decrease host resistance to heat stress, suggesting that interactions with complex microbiotas may mediate a tradeoff between host development and stress resistance. What element in these interactions is responsible for these effects is yet unknown, but experiments with live versus dead bacteria suggest that such effects may depend on bacterially provided signals.
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