Intestinal autophagy activity protects against Salmonella typhimurium infection in Caenorhabditis elegans

Autophagy is a lysosomal degradation pathway present in eukaryotes that allows
a cell to break down cytoplasmic proteins and organelles to maintain homeostasis. The
autophagy pathway has been shown to play a significant role in the immune systems
protective response against various bacterial pathogen infections, such as the intestinal
pathogen Salmonella typhimurium, in Caenorhabditis elegans and in mammals. This
study investigated if the autophagy pathway acts in a tissue-specific manner to protect
against S. typhimurium infection in C. elegans. Wild type C. elegans and worms where
the autophagy gene bec-1 was inhibited in different tissues by RNAi treatment were
infected by S. typhimurium and their survival measured. My data showed that the
autophagy gene bec-1 only protected C. elegans against S. typhimurium infection in the
intestinal tissues, suggesting that the autophagy pathway acts in a tissue specific manner
to help protect against Salmonella invasions in C. elegans.