The Worm Podcast3 Sep 2025

EPISODE 27: Scent of Supper – How Worms Sniff Out Nutritious Bacteria

How does a worm know what’s good for dinner? In this episode, we uncover how C. elegans can distinguish between helpful and harmful microbes — and it’s all down to polyamines. These microbe-produced metabolites act like scent beacons, guiding worms to nutritious bacteria like E. coli while steering them away from pathogens.

We explore:

How chemosensory neurons detect polyamines like cadaverine and putrescine
Why ADF and AWC neurons are tuned to sniff out E. coli-enriched scents
How the AIB interneuron acts as a decision hub for foraging
Why worms lose interest in mutant E. coli strains lacking polyamines
What this tells us about host-microbe interactions and innate sensory coding

📖 Based on the research article:

“Chemosensory detection of polyamine metabolites guides C. elegans to nutritive microbes”

Benjamin Brissette, Lia Ficaro, Chenguang Li, et al.

Published in Science Advances (2024)

🔗 https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adj4387

🎧 Subscribe to the WOrM Podcast for more full-organism discoveries in behaviour, sensory biology, and microbe-host interactions.

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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