ABSTRACT USING GENETIC ANALYSIS AND THE MODEL ORGANISM CAENORHABDITIS ELEGANS TO IDENTIFY BACTERIAL VIRULENCE FACTORS AND INNATE IMMUNE DEFENSES AGAINST PATHOGENS

An estimated twenty-five percent of the fifty-seven million annual deaths worldwide can be directly attributed to infectious disease. Mammals contain both adaptive and innate immune systems to deal with invading pathogens. The genetic model organism Caenorhabditis elegans lacks an adaptive immune system, which makes it a powerful model organism to study the innate immune system without the added complexity of an adaptive immune system. Multiple human pathogens can cause lethal infections in C. elegans and several C. elegans innate immune pathways have been identified that are conserved with mammals and protect the nematode from infection. The goal of thi