The interaction and communication between bacteria and their hosts modulate many aspects of animal physiology and behavior. Dauer entry as a response to chronic exposure to pathogenic bacteria in Caenorhabditis elegans is an example of a dramatic survival response. This response is dependent on the RNA interference (RNAi) machinery, suggesting the involvement of small RNAs (sRNAs) as effectors. Interestingly, dauer formation occurs after two generations of interaction with two unrelated moderately pathogenic bacteria. Therefore, we sought to discover the identity of C. elegans RNAs involved in pathogen-induced diapause. Using transcriptomics and differential expression analysis of coding and long and small noncoding RNAs, we found that mir-243-3p (the mature form of mir-243) is the only transcript continuously upregulated in animals exposed to both Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Salmonella enterica for two generations. Phenotypic analysis of mutants showed that mir-243 is required for dauer formation under pathogenesis but not under starvation. Moreover, DAF-16, a master regulator of defensive responses in the animal and required for dauer formation was found to be necessary for mir-243 expression. This work highlights the role of a small noncoding RNA in the intergenerational defensive response against pathogenic bacteria and interkingdom communication.

中文翻译：

---

秀丽隐杆线虫的代际病原诱导的滞育由mir-243调控。

细菌与其宿主之间的相互作用和交流调节着动物生理和行为的许多方面。Dauer进入是对秀丽隐杆线虫慢性暴露于病原菌的一种反应，这是存活率急剧上升的一个例子。这种反应取决于RNA干扰（RNAi）的机制，表明小RNA（sRNA）作为效应子的参与。有趣的是，道尔的形成是在与两种无关的中度致病细菌相互作用两代后发生的。因此，我们试图发现参与病原体诱导的滞育的秀丽隐杆线虫RNA的身份。使用转录组学和编码及长和小非编码RNA的差异表达分析，我们发现mir-243-3p（mir-243的成熟形式）是暴露于铜绿假单胞菌和肠沙门氏菌两代的动物中唯一连续上调的转录物。突变体的表型分析表明，mir-243是致病机理下dauer形成所必需的，而非饥饿状态下。此外，发现mir-243表达必需DAF-16，它是动物防御反应的主要调节剂，并且是dauer形成所必需的。这项工作强调了小的非编码RNA在针对病原菌和代际交流的代际防御反应中的作用。