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. 2019 Apr 25;12(1):181.
doi: 10.1186/s13071-019-3429-4.

Transcriptional alterations in Caenorhabditis elegans following exposure to an anthelmintic fraction of the plant Picria fel-terrae Lour

Rasika Kumarasingha  1   2 , Neil D Young  3 , Tiong-Chia Yeo  4 , Diana S L Lim  4 , Chu-Lee Tu  4 , Enzo A Palombo  5 , Jillian M Shaw  6 , Robin B Gasser  7 , Peter R Boag  8   9   10
Affiliations

Transcriptional alterations in Caenorhabditis elegans following exposure to an anthelmintic fraction of the plant Picria fel-terrae Lour

Rasika Kumarasingha et al. Parasit Vectors. .

Abstract

Background: Natural compounds from plants are known to provide a source of anthelmintic molecules. In previous studies, we have shown that plant extracts from the plant Picria fel-terrae Lour. and particular fractions thereof have activity against the free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, causing quite pronounced stress responses in this nematode. We have also shown that a fraction, designated Pf-fraction 5, derived from this plant has a substantial adverse effect on this worm; however, nothing is known about the molecular processes affected in the worm. In the present study, we explored this aspect.

Results: Key biological processes linked to upregulated genes (n = 214) included 'response to endoplasmic reticulum stress' and 'lipid metabolism', and processes representing downregulated genes (n = 357) included 'DNA-conformation change' and 'cellular lipid metabolism'.

Conclusions: Exposure of C. elegans to Pf-fraction 5 induces significant changes in the transcriptome. Gene ontology analysis suggests that Pf-fraction 5 induces endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondrial stress, and the changes in gene expression are either a direct or indirect consequence of this. Further work is required to assess specific responses to sub-fractions of Pf-fraction 5 in time-course experiments in C. elegans, to define the chemical(s) with potent anthelmintic properties, to attempt to unravel their mode(s) of action and to assess their selectivity against nematodes.

Keywords: Anthelmintic activity; Bioinformatics; Caenorhabditis elegans; Medicinal plant extracts; Picria fel-terrae Lour.; RNA sequencing.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
A gene ontology (GO) map of 214 upregulated genes in C. elegans in response to treatment with Pf-fraction 5 and linked to conserved biological processes. Individual rectangles represent single gene ontology terms, which are arranged into ‘superclusters’ (related terms), shown in different colors. The size of each rectangle reflects the frequency of individual GO terms representing the upregulated genes
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
A gene ontology (GO) map of 357 downregulated genes in C. elegans in response to treatment with Pf-fraction 5 and linked to conserved biological processes. Individual rectangles represent single gene ontology terms, which are arranged into ‘superclusters’ (related terms), shown in different colors. The size of each rectangle reflects the frequency of individual GO terms representing the downregulated genes
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Fatty acid degradation processes/pathways in C. elegans. a Schematic diagram of fatty acid degradation process. b Lipolysis. c Activation of fatty acids. d Fatty acid transport to the mitochondria. e β-oxidation (adapted from Nelson and Cox [60]). Up-arrow indicates increase transcript abundance, down-arrow indicates decrease transcript abundance
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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