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.