The transcription factor ZIP-1 promotes resistance to intracellular infection in Caenorhabditis elegans

Vladimir Lažetić, Fengting Wu, Lianne B. Cohen, Kirthi C. Reddy, Ya-Ting Chang, Spencer S. Gang, Gira Bhabha and Emily R. Troemel ()
Additional contact information
Vladimir Lažetić: University of California
Fengting Wu: University of California
Lianne B. Cohen: University of California
Kirthi C. Reddy: University of California
Ya-Ting Chang: New York University School of Medicine
Spencer S. Gang: University of California
Gira Bhabha: New York University School of Medicine
Emily R. Troemel: University of California

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-16

Abstract: Abstract Defense against intracellular infection has been extensively studied in vertebrate hosts, but less is known about invertebrate hosts; specifically, the transcription factors that induce defense against intracellular intestinal infection in the model nematode Caenorhabditis elegans remain understudied. Two different types of intracellular pathogens that naturally infect the C. elegans intestine are the Orsay virus, which is an RNA virus, and microsporidia, which comprise a phylum of fungal pathogens. Despite their molecular differences, these pathogens induce a common host transcriptional response called the intracellular pathogen response (IPR). Here we show that zip-1 is an IPR regulator that functions downstream of all known IPR-activating and regulatory pathways. zip-1 encodes a putative bZIP transcription factor, and we show that zip-1 controls induction of a subset of genes upon IPR activation. ZIP-1 protein is expressed in the nuclei of intestinal cells, and is at least partially required in the intestine to upregulate IPR gene expression. Importantly, zip-1 promotes resistance to infection by the Orsay virus and by microsporidia in intestinal cells. Altogether, our results indicate that zip-1 represents a central hub for triggers of the IPR, and that this transcription factor has a protective function against intracellular pathogen infection in C. elegans.

Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-27621-w Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-27621-w

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-27621-w

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().