Acquired stress resilience through bacteria-to-nematode horizontal gene transfer

Abstract

AbstractNatural selection drives acquisition of organismal resilience traits to protect against adverse environments. Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is an important evolutionary mechanism for the acquisition of novel traits, including metazoan acquisition of functions in immunity, metabolism, and reproduction via interdomain HGT (iHGT) from bacteria. We report that the nematode generml-3, which was acquired by iHGT from bacteria, enables exoskeleton resilience and protection against environmental toxins inC. elegans. Phylogenetic analysis reveals that diverse nematode RML-3 proteins form a single monophyletic clade most highly similar to bacterial enzymes that biosynthesize L-rhamnose to build cell wall polysaccharides.C. elegans rml-3is regulated in developing seam cells by heat stress and stress-resistant dauer stage. Importantly,rml-3deficiency impairs cuticle integrity, barrier functions and organismal stress resilience, phenotypes that are rescued by exogenous L-rhamnose. We propose that iHGT of an ancient bacterialrml-3homolog enables L-rhamnose biosynthesis in nematodes that facilitates cuticle integrity and organismal resilience in adaptation to environmental stresses during evolution. These findings highlight the remarkable contribution of iHGT on metazoan evolution that is conferred by the domestication of bacterial genes.