Fig 7. SUR-6, LET-92, and PPH-4.1 may play additional roles in immunity and the response to thermal stress in adult C. elegans by functioning in pathways that are parallel to DAF-16.

Following RNAi treatment beginning at the L1 stage to target C. elegans homologs of catalytic and selected regulatory subunits of the PP4 and PP2A complexes, daf-16(mgDf47) mutant worms were subjected to P. aeruginosa infection at 20°C (A and B), UV radiation (C and D), or thermal stress at 35˚C (E and F) at D6 of adulthood. The fraction of worms alive at each time point after stress was initiated is plotted as a function of time in hours. In all cases RNAi targeting daf-16 or smk-1 and the empty RNAi vector L4440 were included as controls. The average median survival (LT₅₀) of animals treated with RNAi targeting the indicated genes following exposure to P. aeruginosa (B), UV radiation (D), or high temperature (F) at D6 is shown as a fraction of the average median survival of L4440 controls. Bars, standard error of the mean (SEM). Bar colors correspond to the protein phosphatase complex to which products of the indicated genes belong or to controls. Dark blue: L4440, daf-16, and smk-1; light blue: PP2A; dark purple: PP4. Asterisks indicate RNAi treatments producing statistically significant differences in relative median survival (p<0.05). Horizontal lines are drawn at a relative median survival of 1. Red arrowheads are beneath the names of genes encoding catalytic subunits of the PP2A and 4 complexes.