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

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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Jaksot(53)

EPISODE 53: Worms on Pause

EPISODE 53: Worms on Pause

Welcome to the next episode of the WOrM Podcast 🪱⏸️Today, we are talking about worms that appear to stop living—without dying.Researchers have identified a new, reversible state of suspended animatio...

5 Elo 26min

EPISODE 52: Worms in Space: Microbiomes in a Capsule

EPISODE 52: Worms in Space: Microbiomes in a Capsule

Welcome to the next episode of the WOrM Podcast 🪱🚀Today, we are looking at NemaCapsules: a new microfluidic system designed to study how host genetics and the gut microbiome influence C. elegans hea...

29 Heinä 21min

EPISODE 51: The Worm Behind the Wild

EPISODE 51: The Worm Behind the Wild

Welcome to the next episode of the WOrM Podcast 🪱Today we’re looking at a review with a bold idea.Can a tiny nematode help us protect fish, amphibians, reptiles and insects from an increasingly chall...

22 Heinä 16min

EPISODE 50: Fed by Mum, Built by Ribosomes

EPISODE 50: Fed by Mum, Built by Ribosomes

Welcome to the next episode of the WOrM Podcast 🪱Today we’re talking about inheritance.Not DNA.Not small RNAs.Not epigenetics.But ribosomes.⸻🧬 The central ideaWhen mother worms experience dietary re...

15 Heinä 20min

EPISODE 49: Glowing up the Worm Proteome

EPISODE 49: Glowing up the Worm Proteome

Welcome to the next episode of the WOrM Podcast 🪱Today we’re looking at a paper that doesn’t answer a biological question.Instead, it builds the tools to answer thousands of biological questions in t...

8 Heinä 21min

EPISODE 48: Murder Mode: How a Worm Evolved the Urge to Kill

EPISODE 48: Murder Mode: How a Worm Evolved the Urge to Kill

Welcome to the next episode of the WOrM Podcast 🪱Today we're talking about a worm with teeth.And a nervous system that has been rewired — by evolution — to become aggressive.⸻🧬 The central ideaPrist...

6 Touko 14min

EPISODE 47: When Bacteria Fight Back: Bioplastic Kills the Worm

EPISODE 47: When Bacteria Fight Back: Bioplastic Kills the Worm

Welcome to the next episode of the WOrM Podcast 🪱Today we’re talking about something unexpected.A bioplastic — something we usually think of as sustainable, useful, even beneficial —can kill a worm.⸻...

29 Huhti 21min

EPISODE 46: Turning in Time: Neural Sequences in the Worm Brain

EPISODE 46: Turning in Time: Neural Sequences in the Worm Brain

Welcome to the next episode of the WOrM Podcast 🪱Today we’re looking at something deceptively simple: a turn.But not just that a worm turns —how the brain decides to do it.⸻🧬 The central ideaTurning...

22 Huhti 19min

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