Antimicrobial capacity of the freshwater planarians against S. aureus is under the control of Timeless. Issue 7 (3rd October 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Tsoumtsa, Landry Laure; Torre, Cedric; Trouplin, Virginie; Coiffard, Benjamin; Gimenez, Gregory; Mege, Jean-Louis; Ghigo, Eric
• Is Part Of: Virulence. Volume 8:Issue 7(2017)
• Page Start: 1160
• Page End: 1169
• Publication Date: 2017-10-03
• Subjects: anti-bacterial response -- MORN2 -- planarians; -- S. aureus -- Tim; Virulence (Microbiology) -- Periodicals; Bacterial diseases -- Periodicals; Molecular microbiology -- Periodicals; 579.05
• DOI: 10.1080/21505594.2016.1276689
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2150-5608

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Planarians, which are non-parasitic flatworms, are highly resistant to bacterial infections. To better understand the mechanisms underlying this resistance, we investigated the role of the circadian machinery in the anti-bacterial response of the freshwater planarian Schmidtea mediterranea . We identified Smed-Tim from S. mediterranea as a homolog of the mammalian clock gene Tim . We showed via RNA interference that Smed-Tim is required for the anti-microbial activities of Schmidtea mediterranea against Staphylococcus aureus infection during the light/dark cycle. Indeed, S. aureus infection leads to the expression of Smed-Tim, which in turn promotes Smed-Traf6 and Smed-morn2, but not Smed-p38 MAPK expression, 2 master regulators of planarian anti-microbial responses.