Nematode species differ in susceptibility and response to the nematode-trapping fungus Arthrobotrys oligospora

Arthrobotrys oligospora trapped the gastrointestinal parasite Strongyloides ratti more efficiently than either free-living Caenorhabditis elegans or fig-associated Caenorhabditis inopinata.

• Why it matters: Behavioral and molecular mechanisms of nematode–trapping-fungus interactions are poorly understood beyond Caenorhabditis elegans, limiting rational development of biological control agents.
• What they did: The study compared fungal trapping, nematode locomotion, and fungal sporulation/gene expression across three nematode species, and tested eight C. elegans locomotion mutants plus myosin-related transcriptional responses.
• The result: S. ratti showed slower, shorter, lower-displacement movement, and A. oligospora exposure to S. ratti reduced sporulation and altered sporulation-associated gene expression; myosin-related genes changed in a species-specific direction, implying nematode-dependent interaction biology.

AI summary of the abstract · may contain errors · not medical advice · read the paper.