Age Does Not Affect the Induction of Mortality by the Foodborne Pathogen Salmonella enterica in Caenorhabditis elegans

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DOI: 10.4236/aim.2017.710054    772 Downloads   1,519 Views  Citations

ABSTRACT

Salmonella is a common cause of foodborne illness within the United States with the severity of the infection being a factor of both the age and overall health of the infected individual. The nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans has proven to be a useful model to study infection dynamics of pathogenic bacteria, including Salmonella enterica, and its short lifespan makes it a powerful model system to assess the effect of organismal age on infection severity. In this study, we infected C. elegans with each of 6 serovars of S. enterica at 1, 3 or 5 days of worm age and monitored their survival. Worms infected with E. coli OP50 were used as a control. Infection with S. enterica resulted in a significant reduction in mean longevity relative to OP50 (p < 0.05); however, there was no significant effect of age on mean survival time regardless of the strain of bacteria used.

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Burns, D. , Harper, J. and Lynne, A. (2017) Age Does Not Affect the Induction of Mortality by the Foodborne Pathogen Salmonella enterica in Caenorhabditis elegans. Advances in Microbiology, 7, 689-695. doi: 10.4236/aim.2017.710054.

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