(
A) Worms on heat-killed OP50 (growth for 30 days) can be recovered once they eat live OP50. Once live-OP50 (yellow arrow and dotted line) was added to worms (red arrow) grown on HK-OP50 plate for 30 days, they recovered to adults with viable progeny. This result suggests that nutrient deficiency in HK-OP50 induced a protective response from the worms similar to starvation response. (
B) Representative images of animals in the assay described in
Figure 1D. Only under the HK-OP50+ live SS condition, worms were able to consume all heat-killed bacteria and grow. (
C) Cartoon illustrations, microscopic images and quantitative data showing that live bacteria do not influence the usability of heat-killed bacteria through odorants. In the middle cartoon, two petri dishes are stacked with top (opening) facing each other so that the worms/food on the agar pads are exposed to common air space, >100 worms were scored for each testing condition.
S.S.=
Staphylococcus saprophyticus..