ArticlePLoS biology2008
Microsporidia are natural intracellular parasites of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans.
Article in PLoS biology, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 157 papers.
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Who cites it
157 citing papers in PubMed, 283 citations in OpenAlex.
- Microsporidia: evolution, infection mechanisms and host impact.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2026Review
- The Caenorhabditis elegans microbiome impacts microsporidia infection through nutrient limitation and spore inactivation.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Defense against parasites covaries with reproductive timing, not with resistance.PLoS pathogens · 2026Article
- Worms About Town: a citizen science project discovers microsporidian parasites of nematodes through environmental sampling.Biology open · 2026Article
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- Novel infection byInfection and immunity · 2026Article
- Immune regulators PALS-25 and PALS-22 localize to mitochondria and regulate mitochondrial fragmentation iniScience · 2026Article
- Parasite defense covaries with reproductive timing, not with resistance.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Juvenile hosts and natal dispersers are protected in the early stages of epidemics.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Identification of natural products and synthetic analogs which inhibit microsporidia spores and prevent infection.Journal of invertebrate pathology · 2026Article
- Intersections between proteostasis and immunity: insights from Caenorhabditis elegans.Disease models & mechanisms · 2026Review
- Purine salvage enzymes are innate immune regulators inmicroPublication biology · 2026Article
- Searching for vertically transmitted endosymbionts in over 4,000 wild strains of three self-fertilizingmicroPublication biology · 2026Article
- Early life starvation and Hedgehog-related signaling activate innate immunity downstream of daf-18/PTEN and lin-35/Rb causing developmental pathology in adult C. elegans.PLoS genetics · 2025Article
- ATG-3 limits Orsay virus infection in C. elegans and regulates collagen pathways.PLoS pathogens · 2025Article
- The chromatin remodeler LET-418/Mi-2 regulates the intracellular pathogen response in the C. elegans intestine.BMC genomics · 2025Article
- ThebioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- An SRR1 domain-containing protein is required for efficient Orsay virus replication inJournal of virology · 2025Article
- Patterns of pathogenesis in innate immunity: insights from C. elegans.Nature reviews. Immunology · 2025Review
- The Interaction Between the Nematode Caenorhabditis elegans and Its Coexisting Fungal Microbiome Member Barnettozyma californica.Environmental microbiology reports · 2025Article
97 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
For decades the soil nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has been an important model system for biology, but little is known about its natural ecology. Recently, C. elegans has become the focus of studies of innate immunity and several pathogens have been shown to cause lethal intestinal infections in C. elegans. However none of these pathogens has been shown to invade nematode intestinal cells, and no pathogen has been isolated from wild-caught C. elegans. Here we describe an intracellular pathogen isolated from wild-caught C. elegans that we show is a new species of microsporidia. Microsporidia comprise a large class of eukaryotic intracellular parasites that are medically and agriculturally important, but poorly understood. We show that microsporidian infection of the C. elegans intestine proceeds through distinct stages and is transmitted horizontally. Disruption of a conserved cytoskeletal structure in the intestine called the terminal web correlates with the release of microsporidian spores from infected cells, and appears to be part of a novel mechanism by which intracellular pathogens exit from infected cells. Unlike in bacterial intestinal infections, the p38 MAPK and insulin/insulin-like growth factor (IGF) signaling pathways do not appear to play substantial roles in resistance to microsporidian infection in C. elegans. We found microsporidia in multiple wild-caught isolates of Caenorhabditis nematodes from diverse geographic locations. These results indicate that microsporidia are common parasites of C. elegans in the wild. In addition, the interaction between C. elegans and its natural microsporidian parasites provides a system in which to dissect intracellular intestinal infection in vivo and insight into the diversity of pathogenic mechanisms used by intracellular microbes.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.