Reported transgenerational responses to Pseudomonas aeruginosa in Caenorhabditis elegans are not robust
We report our attempt to replicate reports of transgenerational epigenetic inheritance in Caenorhabditis elegans. Multiple laboratories report that C. elegans adults and their F1 embryos exposed to the pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa show pathogen aversion behavior and increased daf-7/TGFβ reporter...
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eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
2025-03-01
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| Online Access: | https://elifesciences.org/articles/100254 |
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| author | Daniel Patrick Gainey Andrey V Shubin Craig P Hunter |
| author_facet | Daniel Patrick Gainey Andrey V Shubin Craig P Hunter |
| author_sort | Daniel Patrick Gainey |
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| description | We report our attempt to replicate reports of transgenerational epigenetic inheritance in Caenorhabditis elegans. Multiple laboratories report that C. elegans adults and their F1 embryos exposed to the pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa show pathogen aversion behavior and increased daf-7/TGFβ reporter gene expression. However, results from one group show persistence of both through the F4 generation. We failed to consistently detect either the avoidance response or elevated daf-7 expression beyond the F1 generation. We confirmed that the dsRNA transport proteins SID-1 and SID-2 are required for intergenerational (F1) inheritance of pathogen avoidance, but not for the F1 inheritance of elevated daf-7 expression. Reanalysis of RNA seq data provides additional evidence that this intergenerational inherited PA14 response may be mediated by small RNAs. The experimental methods are well-described, the source materials are readily available, including samples from the reporting laboratory, and we explored a variety of environmental conditions likely to account for lab-to-lab variability. None of these adjustments altered our results. We conclude that this example of transgenerational inheritance lacks robustness, confirm that the intergenerational avoidance response, but not the elevated daf-7p::gfp expression in F1 progeny, requires sid-1 and sid-2, and identify candidate siRNAs and target genes that may mediate this intergenerational response. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-d5d99481b8da4c60b1e7dbbaff128eeb |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2050-084X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | eLife Sciences Publications Ltd |
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| spelling | doaj-art-d5d99481b8da4c60b1e7dbbaff128eeb2025-08-20T01:55:16ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2025-03-011310.7554/eLife.100254Reported transgenerational responses to Pseudomonas aeruginosa in Caenorhabditis elegans are not robustDaniel Patrick Gainey0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0000-7187Andrey V Shubin1Craig P Hunter2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1456-5657Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Divinity Avenue, The Biological Laboratory, Cambridge, United StatesDepartment of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Divinity Avenue, The Biological Laboratory, Cambridge, United StatesDepartment of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Divinity Avenue, The Biological Laboratory, Cambridge, United StatesWe report our attempt to replicate reports of transgenerational epigenetic inheritance in Caenorhabditis elegans. Multiple laboratories report that C. elegans adults and their F1 embryos exposed to the pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa show pathogen aversion behavior and increased daf-7/TGFβ reporter gene expression. However, results from one group show persistence of both through the F4 generation. We failed to consistently detect either the avoidance response or elevated daf-7 expression beyond the F1 generation. We confirmed that the dsRNA transport proteins SID-1 and SID-2 are required for intergenerational (F1) inheritance of pathogen avoidance, but not for the F1 inheritance of elevated daf-7 expression. Reanalysis of RNA seq data provides additional evidence that this intergenerational inherited PA14 response may be mediated by small RNAs. The experimental methods are well-described, the source materials are readily available, including samples from the reporting laboratory, and we explored a variety of environmental conditions likely to account for lab-to-lab variability. None of these adjustments altered our results. We conclude that this example of transgenerational inheritance lacks robustness, confirm that the intergenerational avoidance response, but not the elevated daf-7p::gfp expression in F1 progeny, requires sid-1 and sid-2, and identify candidate siRNAs and target genes that may mediate this intergenerational response.https://elifesciences.org/articles/100254transgenerationalintergenerational inheritancesid-1sid-2 |
| spellingShingle | Daniel Patrick Gainey Andrey V Shubin Craig P Hunter Reported transgenerational responses to Pseudomonas aeruginosa in Caenorhabditis elegans are not robust eLife transgenerational intergenerational inheritance sid-1 sid-2 |
| title | Reported transgenerational responses to Pseudomonas aeruginosa in Caenorhabditis elegans are not robust |
| title_full | Reported transgenerational responses to Pseudomonas aeruginosa in Caenorhabditis elegans are not robust |
| title_fullStr | Reported transgenerational responses to Pseudomonas aeruginosa in Caenorhabditis elegans are not robust |
| title_full_unstemmed | Reported transgenerational responses to Pseudomonas aeruginosa in Caenorhabditis elegans are not robust |
| title_short | Reported transgenerational responses to Pseudomonas aeruginosa in Caenorhabditis elegans are not robust |
| title_sort | reported transgenerational responses to pseudomonas aeruginosa in caenorhabditis elegans are not robust |
| topic | transgenerational intergenerational inheritance sid-1 sid-2 |
| url | https://elifesciences.org/articles/100254 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT danielpatrickgainey reportedtransgenerationalresponsestopseudomonasaeruginosaincaenorhabditiselegansarenotrobust AT andreyvshubin reportedtransgenerationalresponsestopseudomonasaeruginosaincaenorhabditiselegansarenotrobust AT craigphunter reportedtransgenerationalresponsestopseudomonasaeruginosaincaenorhabditiselegansarenotrobust |