Fig. 5: The AMPK activation is involved in C. elegans defense against Bt infection. | Communications Biology

Fig. 5: The AMPK activation is involved in C. elegans defense against Bt infection.

From: C. elegans monitor energy status via the AMPK pathway to trigger innate immune responses against bacterial pathogens

Fig. 5

a Venn diagram comparing the overlaps between genes activated by nematicidal Bt and the target genes of AAK-2 in C. elegans. The Phenotype Enrichment Analysis according to Wormbase database was used to identify gene function. b The growth assay of the wild-type N2 and mutant worms after BMB171/Cry5Ba infection. The “0, 1/8, ¼, ½, and 1” represent the different concentrations of BMB171/Cry5Ba, up to 7.4 μg/ml Cry5Ba, as shown in (d). Representative worms are shown for each dose. Scale bar represents 200 μm. N = 3 independent experiments. c Survival of wild-type N2 and mutant worms after BMB171/Cry5Ba infection. d Quantification of worm growth. To quantify growth, worms were photographed under ×100 magnification for each dose, and the average worm areas were calculated. The size of the worms in the absence of toxin was set at 100%. The survival assay (e) and the growth assay (f) of the wild-type worms N2 and mutant worms aak-2(ok524) after BMB171/Cry5Ba infection when the AMPK was activated by AICAR or not. N = 3 independent experiments contain three replication of at least 30 worms in (c) and (e), N = 3 independent experiments containing at least 30 worms in (d) and (f). Data points represent the mean values of three independent replicates, error bars denote the SD in (c–f). The p-value was determined by a Student’s t-test (Welch’s correction for unequal variances), ***p < 0.001, **p < 0.01, *p < 0.05 and ns indicate no significant difference.

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