Natural monobacterial environments modulate viral infection inCaenorhabditis elegans

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe microbes associated with an organism play a pivotal role in modulating their host susceptibility to viral infections. However, the influence of individual microbes on viral infections is not well understood. Here, we examined the impact of 67 naturally bacterial associates onCaenorhabditis eleganssusceptibility to Orsay virus. Our findings reveal that viral infection ofC. elegansis significantly influenced by monobacterial environments. The majority of tested natural bacterial environments reducedC. elegans viral infection while some increased susceptibility compared to anEscherichia colienvironmental reference. The reduction in viral infection is not caused by degradation of the virions or poor nutrition ofC. elegansby the bacteria. The reduction in viral infection does not require known antiviral responses, including RNA interference and transcriptional regulation downstream of the RIG-I homolog DRH-1. However, one bacterium,LelliottiaJUb276, reduced susceptibility but does not induce resistance to viral infection indrh-1mutants. Our research underscores the importance of considering the natural biotic environment in studies of viral infections and provides insights for future research on host-microbes-virus interactions and viral immunity.AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONSConceptualization: RG, MAF; Formal analysis: RG; Investigation: RG; Resources: MAF; Data Curation: RG; Writing - Original Draft: RG, MAF; Writing - Review & Editing: RG, MAF; Visualization: RG; Supervision: MAF; Project administration: RG, MAF; Funding acquisition: RG, MAF.