The Worm Podcast16 Huhti 2025

EPISODE 9: Divergent Diets, Divergent Defences – Intestinal Evolution in C. elegans and P. pacificus

How does a nematode’s feeding strategy shape its gut biology and disease resistance? In this episode, we explore a comparative gut transcriptomics study of Caenorhabditis elegans and Pristionchus pacificus that reveals how changes in anatomy and lifestyle have led to major shifts in gene expression and pathogen susceptibility.

We discuss:

Why P. pacificus lacks the grinder structure and how this changes its digestion
What makes their intestinal gene expression profiles so divergent, despite being close relatives
The role of Hedgehog signalling and lineage-specific genes in intestinal development
Surprising findings on gut pH stability despite transcriptomic divergence
How these factors shape resistance to pathogens and environmental adaptation

📖 Based on the research article:

“Comparative transcriptomics of the nematode gut identifies global shifts in feeding mode and pathogen susceptibility”

James W. Lightfoot, Veeren M. Chauhan, Jonathan W. Aylott & Christian Rödelsperger.

Published in BMC Research Notes (2016).

🔗 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-016-1886-9

🎧 Subscribe to the WoRM Podcast for more on nematode evolution, gut biology, and systems-level research.

This podcast is generated with artificial intelligence and curated by Veeren. If you’d like your publication featured on the show, please get in touch.

📩 More info:

🔗 ⁠www.veerenchauhan.com⁠

📧 veeren.chauhan@nottingham.ac.uk

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Jaksot(60)

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