PROJECT SUMMARY
Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance (TEI) has been observed in worms, flies, and mice, and proposed
in humans (e.g., Dutch Hunger Winter), but the underlying and regulatory molecular mechanisms are largely
unknown. Similarly, we do not yet understand how ubiquitous trans-kingdom signaling between pathogens and
hosts is. Therefore, it is critical to study these mechanisms in model systems.
We recently discovered that the nematode C. elegans, which both eats and is infected by bacteria, can
survey its environment, detect and learn to avoid pathogens, and then pass this information on to four
generations of its progeny (Moore, et al., Cell 2019); we propose that this is a nascent form of adaptive immunity.
Well-conserved molecular processes (RNA interference, COMPASS histone modification, piRNAs) across
several tissues (intestine, germline, and neurons) are required to alter behavior in response to Pseudomonas
aeruginosa (PA14). Worms "read" small RNA bacterial signals, interpret this information as a predictor of future
infection, and transmit the information to alter behavior by downregulating a neuronal gene with complementary
sequence (Kaletsky, et al. BioRxiv 2020; Kaletsky et al. Nature, in press).
How is the sRNA signal conveyed from the germline to neurons? We found that the
Ty3/Gypsy retrotransposon Cer1 is required for learned pathogenic avoidance, TEI, and survival on PA14. This
is paradigm shifting: conventional wisdom holds that retrotransposons are deleterious, and that piRNAs
are critical to repress these genomic parasites. Our results instead suggest that Cer1 may have been selected to
fight against the most abundant pathogens in C. elegans' environment. We hypothesize that Cer1 forms vesicle-
like particles that carry sRNAs to neurons. Proposed experiments will characterize the nature of the germline-to-
neuron signal, determine the evolutionary conservation of the mechanism, and determine how the
transgenerational “clock” is sett. Because the molecular components we have already observed are conserved,
our results will identify candidate molecular requirements for TEI in other animals.