Worms colonized by a non- pathogenic control E. coli.
Credit: University of Florida.
Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and ALS affect millions of adults, but scientists still do not know what causes these diseases, which poses a significant roadblock to developing treatments or preventative measures.
Recent research suggests that people with these conditions exhibit changes in the bacterial composition of their digestive tract. However, given the vast diversity of microbes found in the human body, identifying which bacteria may be associated with neurodegeneration is like finding a needle in a haystack.
Seeking that proverbial needle, scientists at the University of Florida are looking in an unexpected place: the digestive tract of a tiny, translucent worm called Caenorhabditis elegans.
New research published in PLOS Pathogens establishes, for the first time, a link between specific bacteria species and physical manifestations of neurodegenerative diseases. The study's lead author is Alyssa Walker, a microbiology and cell science doctoral candidate in the UF/IFAS College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.
"Looking at the microbiome is a relatively new approach to investigating what causes neurodegenerative diseases. In this study, we were able to show that specific species of bacteria play a role in the development of these conditions," said Daniel Czyz, Walker's dissertation advisor.
Czyz is the senior author of the study and an assistant professor in the UF/IFAS department of microbiology and cell science.
"We also showed that some other bacteria produce compounds that counteract these 'bad' bacteria. Recent studies have shown that patients with Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease are deficient in these 'good' bacteria, so our findings may help explain that connection and open up an area of future study," he added.
All neurodegenerative diseases can be traced to problems with the way proteins are handled in the body. If proteins are misfolded, they build up and accumulate in tissues. These protein aggregates, as scientists call them, interfere with cell functioning and lead to neurodegenerative disorders.
Czyz and his co-authors wanted to know if introducing certain bacteria into the C. elegans worms would be followed by protein aggregation in the worms' tissues.
"That is, in fact, what we observed. We have a way of marking the aggregates so they glow green under the microscope. We saw that worms colonized by certain bacteria species were lit up with aggregates that were toxic to tissues, while those colonized by the control bacteria were not," Czyz said. "This occurred not just in the intestinal tissues, where the bacteria are, but all over the worms' bodies, in their muscles, nerves and even reproductive organs."
Surprisingly, the offspring of affected worms also showed increased protein aggregation—even though these offspring never encountered the bacteria originally associated with the condition.
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