sek-1 is important in tissue-specific regulation of innate immunity during the Xoo infection in the model host Caenorhabditis elegans

Abstract

Xanthomonas oryzae pv. Oryzae (Xoo) are plant pathogenic bacteria that can cause serious blight of rice. We have demonstrated that Xoo can infect the model organism C. elegans and p38 MAPK pathway plays specific roles in defense against the pathogen in our previous paper. Based on that p38 MAPK pathway can be activated in a range of tissues, it is intriguing to compare the tissue-specific activities of this pathway in host innate immunity. Here, transgenic worms that sek-1 expressed specifically in neurons system, ciliated sensory neurons, and intestine respectively are used to determine the nematode survival and transcriptional levels of immune-related genes. We report that SEK-1 and TOL-1 are not involved in C. elegans avoidance behavior, and ingestion of nematodes is related to the aversion and also the characteristics of bacteria. In addition, tol-1 and sek-1 participate the immune response to the infection by Xoo; sek-1 also exhibits tissue-specific activities in host innate immunity. Our findings suggest that overlapping immune effect may exist between the tol-1 and sek-1.