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| C. elegans roundworm By Bob Goldstein, UNC Chapel Hill CC BY-SA 3.0 |
Download Episode (6.0 MB, 8.7 minutes)
Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Bat associated cyclovirus 9
Takeaways
Not all predators are fast or agile; some are sneaky, or good trap builders, or just good chemists. The predator club includes animals but also plants and even fungi. For example, the oyster mushroom fungus can paralyze roundworms in the soil that touch its filaments, then degrade their bodies and consume their nutrients.
The mechanism of this paralysis has been a mystery, but it's one step closer to being solved. This study found that intact sensory cilia, little hairs on the worm's head that help it sense its surroundings, are required for the paralysis to work. Worms with mutations in the structure of their cilia were protected from paralysis. How exactly the fungus acts on these cilia and the neurons they connect to, though, is still unknown.
Journal Paper:
Lee C-H, Chang H-W, Yang C-T, Wali N, Shie J-J, Hsueh Y-P. 2020. Sensory cilia as the Achilles heel of nematodes when attacked by carnivorous mushrooms. Proc Natl Acad Sci 117:6014–6022.
Other interesting stories:
- Bread waste could be good food for useful fermentations
- Symbiotic bacteria in beetle picked up gene that helps defend beetle eggs from fungus
Post questions or comments here or email to bacteriofiles@gmail.com. Thanks for listening!
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