There is a continuos need for the development of simple animal models for the study of host-pathogen interactions. There is also a need for the identification and study of virulence mechanisms as well. Diverse bacteria are pathogens of C.elegans and may constitute a useful model for the study of both pathogens and symbionts.
Using WMicrotracker, it is possible to easily study bacterial infection in C.elegans (and other small organisms) in order to discover novel antibiotics, natural killers, or genes that improve immune resistance. Below we present an example of application.
In this experiment we can observe a long-term kinetic and dose response effect of Pseudomonas CHA0 infection in C.elegans. Paralytic killing is reported to depends on bacterial hydrogen cyanide production.