The neural basis of heat seeking in a human-infective parasitic worm

• Published in: Current biology Vol. 32; no. 10; pp. 2206 - 2221.e6
• Main Authors: Bryant, Astra S., Ruiz, Felicitas, Lee, Joon Ha, Hallem, Elissa A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Inc 23.05.2022
• Subjects: AFD neuron; Animals; C. elegans; Caenorhabditis elegans; calcium imaging; heat seeking; Helminths; host-seeking; Hot Temperature; Humans; Larva - physiology; Nematoda - physiology; parasitic helminth; parasitic nematode; Strongyloides stercoralis; Strongyloides stercoralis - physiology; Thermoreceptors; thermosensation; thermotaxis; C. elegans; parasitic nematode; heat seeking; host-seeking; Strongyloides stercoralis; AFD neuron; parasitic helminth; thermosensation; thermotaxis; calcium imaging
• ISSN: 0960-9822; 1879-0445
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.04.010

Soil-transmitted parasitic nematodes infect over one billion people and cause devastating morbidity worldwide. Many of these parasites have infective larvae that locate hosts using thermal cues. Here, we identify the thermosensory neurons of the human threadworm Strongyloides stercoralis and show that they display unique functional adaptations that enable the precise encoding of temperatures up to human body temperature. We demonstrate that experience-dependent thermal plasticity regulates the dynamic range of these neurons while preserving their ability to encode host-relevant temperatures. We describe a novel behavior in which infective larvae spontaneously reverse attraction to heat sources at sub-body temperatures and show that this behavior is mediated by rapid adaptation of the thermosensory neurons. Finally, we identify thermoreceptors that confer parasite-specific sensitivity to body heat. Our results pinpoint the parasite-specific neural adaptations that enable parasitic nematodes to target humans and provide the foundation for drug development to prevent human infection. •S. stercoralis senses temperature via the conserved AFD sensory neuron pair•Heat seeking by S. stercoralis infective larvae requires Ss-AFD neurons•Ss-AFD neurons display unique temperature-encoding strategies•Three receptor-type guanylate cyclases in Ss-AFD sense body heat Bryant et al. report that the skin-penetrating, human-parasitic nematode Strongyloides stercoralis relies on a conserved thermosensory neuron pair to drive attraction to human body heat. The authors demonstrate that parasite-specific sensory encoding strategies drive temperature-driven host seeking by human-infective parasitic worms.