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Figure 3 | BMC Evolutionary Biology

Figure 3

From: Pathogen-induced Caenorhabditis elegans developmental plasticity has a hormetic effect on the resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses

Figure 3

Heat-shock resistance and hsp-16.2 induction in C. elegans developed on different E. coli strains. (A) Survival proportion of nematodes developed on OP50 or 536 E. coli strains after a 10 h heat shock at 35°C. Following development on strain 536, 20% more nematodes survived the 10 h heat shock treatment compared to nematodes developed on strain OP50. (B) Level of fluorescence of the hsp-16.2::GFP reporter in young adult nematodes (day 0) developed on E. coli 536 pathogen (n=75) or OP50 strain (n=75). (C) Two day-old adult nematodes exposed to the 536 pathogenic strain had a higher level of induction of hsp-16.2 following development on strain 536 (536/536 n=150) than those developed on strain OP50 (OP50/536 n=88) and those maintained life through on strain OP50 (OP50/OP50 n=98). (D) Quantity of live bacterial cells in the intestinal tract of 2-day old nematodes exposed to E. coli 536 following development on strains 536 (536/536 n=5) or OP50 (OP50/536 n=5) and controls maintained life through on strain OP50 (OP50/OP50 n=5). The observed difference in the level of hsp-16.2 induction cannot be correlated with the amount of live bacteria colonizing the nematode intestinal tracts as there was no significant difference in the mean bacterial density in the intestine of 2-day old nematodes exposed to E. coli 536 independently of whether they were developed on strains OP50 or 536. Graphed: mean ± s.e.m., *: p<0.05, **: p<0.01, ***: p<0.001.

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