美国加州大学伯克利分校Andrew Dillin研究团队发现，致病特征的感知启动跨代保护。该研究于2024年12月24日在线发表于国际一流学术期刊《细胞》。

研究人员发现，动物在暴露于假单胞菌来源的氰化物时，会激活一种保护性应激反应程序，而氰化物解毒的代谢副产物——β-氰基丙氨酸，作为代际信号，保护后代免受感染。值得注意的是，这一机制并不需要直接的父母感染.

相反，暴露于致病菌来源的挥发物就足以增强下一代的存活率，这表明父母对环境线索的监视可以激活保护性的跨代反应。因此，仅仅感知到来自致病菌的毒素（在这种情况下是氰化物），就能保护动物的后代免受未来致病挑战的威胁。

据介绍，免疫反应从一代传递到下一代，代表了一种强大的适应性机制，用于保护有机体的后代。自然秀丽隐杆线虫（C. elegans）致病菌假单胞菌（Pseudomonas vranovensis）感染父母会在后代中诱发保护性反应，但驱动这种反应的细菌线索和跨代信号此前尚不清楚。

附：英文原文

Title: Perception of a pathogenic signature initiates intergenerational protection

Author: Corinne L. Pender, Julian G. Dishart, Holly K. Gildea, Kelsie M. Nauta, Emily M. Page, Talha F. Siddiqi, Shannon S. Cheung, Larry Joe, Nicholas O. Burton, Andrew Dillin

Issue&Volume: 2024-12-24

Abstract: Transmission of immune responses from one generation to the next represents a powerful adaptive mechanism to protect an organism’s descendants. Parental infection by the natural C. elegans pathogen Pseudomonas vranovensis induces a protective response in progeny, but the bacterial cues and intergenerational signal driving this response were previously unknown. Here, we find that animals activate a protective stress response program upon exposure to P. vranovensis-derived cyanide and that a metabolic byproduct of cyanide detoxification, β-cyanoalanine, acts as an intergenerational signal to protect progeny from infection. Remarkably, this mechanism does not require direct parental infection; rather, exposure to pathogen-derived volatiles is sufficient to enhance the survival of the next generation, indicating that parental surveillance of environmental cues can activate a protective intergenerational response. Therefore, the mere perception of a pathogen-derived toxin, in this case cyanide, can protect an animal’s progeny from future pathogenic challenges.

DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.11.026

Source: https://www.cell.com/cell/abstract/S0092-8674(24)01342-4

来源：科学网  小柯机器人