11 November 2022
Javier Apfeld
Department of Biology
Northeastern University
In my lab we are trying to figure out the strategies that C. elegans worms use to deal with the damaging effects of hydrogen peroxide – the preeminent chemical weapon that organisms use for combat. Bacteria, fungi, plants, and animals have long been known to excrete large quantities of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) to attack their prey and pathogens. H2O2 is also a byproduct of aerobic respiration. How do worms deal with the lethal threat of H2O2? I will be talking about three different types of strategies that worms use to decide when to induce behavioral and cellular H2O2 defenses in response to environmental information. One involves escaping lethal levels of H2O2, another involves guessing when self-defense is not needed, and yet another involves preemptively inducing defenses when an inherent enhancer of the reactivity of H2O2 is detected. We think that by relying on a combination of strategies, C. elegans can better manage the challenge of avoiding inducing costly H2O2 defenses that can cause undesirable side effects at inappropriate times.