The Caenorhabditis elegans microbiome impacts microsporidia infection through nutrient limitation and spore inactivation
6 affiliations
- 1Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
- 2Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research & David Braley Centre for Antibiotic Discovery. McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
- 3Mass Spectrometry Core, Van Andel Research Institute, Grand Rapids, MI, USA
- 4Department of Evolutionary Ecology and Genetics, Zoological Institute, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany
- 5Department of Metabolism and Nutritional Programming, Van Andel Research Institute, Grand Rapids, MI, USA
- 6Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada. [email protected]
Abstract
Microsporidia are fungal parasites that can only reproduce inside the cells of a host, and they infect most animal groups, including humans and agriculturally important species. Animals also harbor a microbiome, which can shape resistance to infection, but the mechanisms by which bacteria influence microsporidia infection are poorly understood. To address this, we tested how bacteria associated with the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans affect infection by its natural microsporidian parasite, Nematocida parisii. Here we show that nematodes grown on Chryseobacterium scophthalmum or Sphingobacterium multivorum exhibit increased initial parasite invasion but reduced subsequent growth. Broad profiling of host lipids reveals that these bacteria disrupt levels of unsaturated fatty acids, and adding back one such fatty acid, linoleic acid, restores parasite growth in animals raised on S. multivorum. We also found that Pseudomonas lurida and Pseudomonas mendocina secrete molecules that inactivate N. parisii spores, with P. lurida activity depending on the antimicrobial lipopeptide massetolide. We tested 53 additional Pseudomonas strains, 64% of which significantly reduced N. parisii infection. Our results indicate that bacterial interference with microsporidia is widespread, acting both by reshaping host metabolism and by directly inactivating parasite spores.
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BibTeX
@article{jarkass2026caenorhabditis,
title = {{The Caenorhabditis elegans microbiome impacts microsporidia infection through nutrient limitation and spore inactivation}},
author = {Hala Tamim El Jarkass and Stefanie Castelblanco and Winnie Zhao and Manpreet Kaur and Yin Wan and Abigail E. Ellis and Ryan D. Sheldon and Barbara Pees and Katja Dierking and Evan C. Lien and Nick O. Burton and Gerard D. Wright and Aaron W Reinke},
journal = {Nature Communications},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.1038/s41467-026-77106-x},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-77106-x},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - The Caenorhabditis elegans microbiome impacts microsporidia infection through nutrient limitation and spore inactivation
AU - Hala Tamim El Jarkass
AU - Stefanie Castelblanco
AU - Winnie Zhao
AU - Manpreet Kaur
AU - Yin Wan
AU - Abigail E. Ellis
AU - Ryan D. Sheldon
AU - Barbara Pees
AU - Katja Dierking
AU - Evan C. Lien
AU - Nick O. Burton
AU - Gerard D. Wright
AU - Aaron W Reinke
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/26
JO - Nature Communications
DO - 10.1038/s41467-026-77106-x
UR - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-77106-x
AB - Microsporidia are fungal parasites that can only reproduce inside the cells of a host, and they infect most animal groups, including humans and agriculturally important species. Animals also harbor a microbiome, which can shape resistance to infection, but the mechanisms by which bacteria influence microsporidia infection are poorly understood. To address this, we tested how bacteria associated with the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans affect infection by its natural microsporidian parasite, Nematocida parisii. Here we show that nematodes grown on Chryseobacterium scophthalmum or Sphingobacterium multivorum exhibit increased initial parasite invasion but reduced subsequent growth. Broad profiling of host lipids reveals that these bacteria disrupt levels of unsaturated fatty acids, and adding back one such fatty acid, linoleic acid, restores parasite growth in animals raised on S. multivorum. We also found that Pseudomonas lurida and Pseudomonas mendocina secrete molecules that inactivate N. parisii spores, with P. lurida activity depending on the antimicrobial lipopeptide massetolide. We tested 53 additional Pseudomonas strains, 64% of which significantly reduced N. parisii infection. Our results indicate that bacterial interference with microsporidia is widespread, acting both by reshaping host metabolism and by directly inactivating parasite spores.
SN - 2041-1723
ER -