Behavior and physiology of C. elegans responding to fungal predators

Advisor: Yen-Ping Hsueh

Location: Max Planck Institute for Biology Tübingen

Predator-prey interactions can profoundly influence the behaviour of prey species as they adapt to avoid being captured. Our previous work has demonstrated that upon trapped by the nematode trapping fungus Arthrobotrys oligospora, C. elegans quickly entered a quiescence state through the activation of the two sleep-inducing neurons ALA and RIS. We also profiled the transcriptomes of C. elegans that were trapped by A. oligospora and identified several gene families that responded to A. oligospora predation (Lin et al. BioRxiv). The project aims to further dissect the function of these genes and to understand how predation might have affected the evolution and selection of the genes in nematode genomes.

Caenorhabditis elegans trapped by the nematode-trapping fungus Arthrobotry oligospora. — *Caenorhabditis elegans* trapped by the nematode-trapping fungus *Arthrobotry oligospora.*

*Caenorhabditis elegans* trapped by the nematode-trapping fungus *Arthrobotry oligospora.*

More information about the research of Yen-Ping Hsueh and a selection of recent publications can be found on her faculty page.

References:

Lin TH, Chang HW, Tay RJ and Hsueh YP. (2025). Predation by nematode-trapping fungus triggers mechanosensory-dependent quiescence in Caenorhabditis elegans. iScience. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2025.112792

Chang HW, Lin HC, Yang CT, Tay RJ, Chang DM, Tung YC and Hsueh YP. (2025). Cuticular collagens mediate cross-kingdom predator-prey interactions between trapping fungi and nematodes. PLoS Biology. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3003178

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Application deadline: 19 January 2026