Scientists Discover a Mechanism for Memory Transfer Between Individuals in C. Elegans
Published:14 Oct.2021 Source:Princeton University
When an organism encounters a threatin its environment, it is to the species' advantage to warn others of the peril. The microscopic roundworm C. elegans regularly encounters dangers in its environment such as the pathogenic bacterium P. aeruginosa, which seems like an appealing food source but can sicken worms if eaten. C. elegans isn't equipped to shout out warnings as a human would, but new work by researchers from Princeton researcher Coleen Murphy's laboratory shows that worms who encounter P. aeruginosa can help others avoid the danger, and identifies a crucial part of the mechanism by which this is done.
In earlier work, Murphy's lab discovered that mother worms who are sickened by P. aeruginosa learn to avoid the bacterium, and that they can impress this avoidance behavior upon their offspring for the next four generations. Mother worms who've eaten P. aeruginosa absorb a bacterial small RNA called P11 through their intestines, which touches off a signal in the worm's germ line reproductive cells that is then transmitted to a neuron that controls behavior. Afterwards, the new behavior is conveyed to future progeny via changes made to germ line cells. In their new paper, co-first authors Rebecca Moore, Rachel Kaletsky, and Chen Lesnik, and colleagues show that avoidance behavior can also be conveyed from trained worms to other, naïve adult worms.