Rotenone Modulates Caenorhabditis elegans Immunometabolism and Pathogen Susceptibility
Résumé
Mitochondria are central players in host immunometabolism as they function not only as
metabolic hubs but also as signaling platforms regulating innate immunity. Environmental
exposures to mitochondrial toxicants occur widely and are increasingly frequent.
Exposures to these mitotoxicants may pose a serious threat to organismal health and
the onset of diseases by disrupting immunometabolic pathways. In this study, we
investigated whether the Complex I inhibitor rotenone could alter C. elegans
immunometabolism and disease susceptibility. C. elegans embryos were exposed to
rotenone (0.5 μM) or DMSO (0.125%) until they reached the L4 larval stage. Inhibition of
mitochondrial respiration by rotenone and disruption of mitochondrial metabolism were
evidenced by rotenone-induced detrimental effects on mitochondrial efficiency and
nematode growth and development. Next, through transcriptomic analysis, we
investigated if this specific but mild mitochondrial stress that we detected would lead to
the modulation of immunometabolic pathways. We found 179 differentially expressed
genes (DEG), which were mostly involved in detoxification, energy metabolism, and
pathogen defense. Interestingly, among the down-regulated DEG, most of the known
genes were involved in immune defense, and most of these were identified as commonly
upregulated during P. aeruginosa infection. Furthermore, rotenone increased
susceptibility to the pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA14). However, it increased
resistance to Salmonella enterica (SL1344). To shed light on potential mechanisms related
to these divergent effects on pathogen resistance, we assessed the activation of the
mitochondrial unfolded protein response (UPR mt ), a well-known immunometabolic
pathway in C. elegans which links mitochondria and immunity and provides resistance
to pathogen infection. The UPR mt pathway was activated in rotenone-treated nematodes
further exposed for 24 h to the pathogenic bacteria P. aeruginosa and S. enterica or the
common bacterial food source Escherichia coli (OP50). However, P. aeruginosa alone
suppressed UPRmt activation and rotenone treatment rescued its activation only to the
level of DMSO-exposed nematodes fed with E. coli. Module-weighted annotation
bioinformatics analysis was also consistent with UPR mt activation in rotenone-exposed
nematodes consistent with the UPR being involved in the increased resistance to S enterica. Together, our results demonstrate that the mitotoxicant rotenone can disrupt C.
elegans immunometabolism in ways likely protective against some pathogen species but
sensitizing against others.