The nuclear hormone receptor NHR-86 controls anti-pathogen responses in C. elegans

• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1007935
• Publication Date: 2019-01-22T22:18:42Z
• Authors: Nicholas D. Peterson; Hilary K. Cheesman; Pengpeng Liu; Sarah M. Anderson; Kyle J. Foster; Richa Chhaya; Paola Perrat; Jose Thekkiniath; Qiyuan Yang; Cole M. Haynes; Read Pukkila-Worley
• Keywords: Chromatin immunoprecipitation

Nuclear hormone receptors (NHRs) are ligand-gated transcription factors that control adaptive host responses following recognition of specific endogenous or exogenous ligands. Although NHRs have expanded dramatically in C. elegans compared to other metazoans, the biological function only a few these genes has been characterized detail. Here, we demonstrate an NHR can activate anti-pathogen transcriptional program. Using genetic epistasis experiments, transcriptome profiling analyses and chromatin immunoprecipitation-sequencing, show that, presence immunostimulatory small molecule, NHR-86 binds promoters immune effectors their transcription. is not required for resistance bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa at baseline, but activation by this compound drives program provides protection against pathogen. Interestingly, targets whose basal regulation requires canonical p38 MAPK PMK-1 pathway. However, functions independently modulates infection response directly. These findings characterize new regulator induce protective towards