Restriction of vaccinia virus replication by a ced-3 and ced-4-dependent pathway in Caenorhabditis elegans.
Genetic tractability and easy manipulation make Caenorhabditis elegans a good model to study host-pathogen interactions. Dozens of different bacterial species can pathogenically infect C. elegans under laboratory conditions, and all of these microbes are extracellular pathogens to nematodes. Viruses, on the other hand, are obligate intracellular parasites, and yet no viral infections have been reported for C. elegans. We established a procedure allowing vaccinia virus to enter and subsequently replicate in C. elegans. Virus replication was significantly enhanced in ced-3, ced-4, ced-9(gf), and egl-1(lf) mutants, demonstrating that the core programmed cell death (PCD) genes ced-3, ced-4, ced-9, and egl-1 control vaccinia virus replication in C. elegans. The ability of ced-3 and ced-4 alleles to restrict virus replication is correlated with their cell-killing activities. Moreover, the increase in vaccinia virus replication levels in the PCD-defective mutants was not likely to be caused by the extra live cells, as neither the inhibition of PCD by icd-1 overexpression nor the presence of extra cells after extra cell divisions in cul-1 or lin-23 mutants had any significant effect on vaccinia virus replication. Therefore, the core PCD genes possess a unique function in controlling vaccinia virus replication in C. elegans.
Department of Entomology, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan 40227, Republic of China.
Wan-Hsin
WH
Liu
Yi-Ling
YL
Lin
Jia-Pey
JP
Wang
Willisa
W
Liou
Roger F
RF
Hou
Yi-Chun
YC
Wu
Ching-Len
CL
Liao
D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000235:genetics; D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000821:virology*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D020169:Caspases / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D017238:Genes, Helminth; D009154:Mutation; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D012097:Repressor Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D014616:Vaccinia virus / Q000502:physiology*; D014779:Virus Replication / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology
D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins; C089224:Ced-4 protein, C elegans; C087233:Ced-9 protein, C elegans; C112486:EGL-1 protein, C elegans; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D020169:Caspases; C089223:ced-3 protein, C elegans