Heat Stress Reduces the Susceptibility of <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i> to Orsay Virus Infection

• Main Authors: Yuqing Huang, Mark G. Sterken, Koen van Zwet, Lisa van Sluijs, Gorben P. Pijlman, Jan E. Kammenga
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-07-01
• Series: Genes
• Subjects: <i>C. elegans</i>; Orsay virus; heat stress
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4425/12/8/1161

The nematode <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i> has been a versatile model for understanding the molecular responses to abiotic stress and pathogens. In particular, the response to heat stress and virus infection has been studied in detail. The Orsay virus (OrV) is a natural virus of <i>C. elegans</i> and infection leads to intracellular infection and proteostatic stress, which activates the intracellular pathogen response (IPR). IPR related gene expression is regulated by the genes <i>pals-22</i> and <i>pals-25,</i> which also control thermotolerance and immunity against other natural pathogens. So far, we have a limited understanding of the molecular responses upon the combined exposure to heat stress and virus infection. We test the hypothesis that the response of <i>C. elegans</i> to OrV infection and heat stress are co-regulated and may affect each other. We conducted a combined heat-stress-virus infection assay and found that after applying heat stress, the susceptibility of <i>C. elegans</i> to OrV was decreased. This difference was found across different wild types of <i>C. elegans</i>. Transcriptome analysis revealed a list of potential candidate genes associated with heat stress and OrV infection. Subsequent mutant screens suggest that <i>pals-22</i> provides a link between viral response and heat stress, leading to enhanced OrV tolerance of <i>C. elegans</i> after heat stress.