PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Miyata, Sachiko
AU  - Begun, Jakob
AU  - Troemel, Emily R.
AU  - Ausubel, Frederick M.
TI  - DAF-16-Dependent Suppression of Immunity During Reproduction in <em>Caenorhabditis elegans</em>
AID  - 10.1534/genetics.107.083923
DP  - 2008 Feb 01
TA  - Genetics
PG  - 903--918
VI  - 178
IP  - 2
4099  - http://www.genetics.org/content/178/2/903.short
4100  - http://www.genetics.org/content/178/2/903.full
SO  - Genetics2008 Feb 01; 178
AB  - To further understand how the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans defends itself against pathogen attack, we analyzed enhanced pathogen resistance (epr) mutants obtained from a forward genetic screen. We also examined several well-characterized sterile mutants that exhibit an Epr phenotype. We found that sterility and pathogen resistance are highly correlated and that resistance in both epr and sterile mutants is dependent on DAF-16 activity. Our data indicate that a DAF-16-dependent signaling pathway distinct from previously described pathways is involved in the activation of genes that confer resistance to bacterial pathogens. The timing of DAF-16-dependent gene activation in sterile mutants coincides with the onset of embryonic development in wild-type animals, suggesting that signals from developing embryos normally downregulate the immune response.