Ubiquitin-mediated host response and defense against Orsay viral infection in C. elegans.

A) Viral pathogen load in nematodes treated with RNAi against the SCF ligase components skr-3, skr-4, skr-5, and cul-6 compared to vector control RNAi (L4440), as assessed by qRT-PCR for viral transcript. Mean +/− SEM of three independent experiments shown. B) Viral pathogen load in nematodes treated with RNAi against ubq-2, pas-5 and rpn-2 analyzed as above. Mean +/− SEM of three independent experiments shown. C) Intestines of F26F2.1p::gfp transgenic animals were stained with the FK2 antibody against conjugated ubiquitin (red), and DAPI for DNA (blue). Intestines outlined with white dotted line. Animals infected with virus have increased ubiquitin clustering in some intestinal cells compared to uninfected animals (arrowhead), and also express the GFP reporter. Scale bar  = 20 µm. ** p<0.01.