title: [C. elegans defence mechanisms].
abstract: The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has evolved as a powerful invertebrate model to study innate immunity to pathogens. C. elegans possesses inducible defence mechanisms to protect itself from pathogenic attack, mainly by the production of antimicrobial effector molecules. Its innate immune system is under the control of a surprisingly complex network of evolutionary conserved signalling pathways, which are activated depending on the pathogen, suggesting that C. elegans is able to mount a specific defence response to different pathogens. In this review we will introduce the worm's immune system and discuss the different signalling pathways that regulate its response to bacterial pathogens which mainly infect C. elegans by an oral route and by invading its intestine, before focusing our attention on the resistance of C. elegans to a natural occurring fungal -pathogen that infects the worm by invading its -epidermis.
authors.affiliation: Centre d'immunologie de Marseille-Luminy, Inserm U, CNRS, UMR, Université de la Méditerranée, France. ziegler@ciml.univ-mrs.fr
authors.forename: Katja
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ziegler
authors.forename: Nathalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pujol
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000235:genetics / Q000382:microbiology / Q000502:physiology*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D004817:Epidermis / Q000382:microbiology; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D017238:Genes, Helminth; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D006999:Hypocreales; D007422:Intestines / Q000382:microbiology; D008954:Models, Biological; D011494:Protein Kinases / Q000502:physiology; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D011494:Protein Kinases