HLH-30/TFEB-regulated autophagy mediates sexual dimorphism in immunity in Caenorhabditis elegans

Sexual dimorphism affects diverse biological functions such as immune responses. However, mechanisms by which different sexes alter immunity remained largely unknown. By using Caenorhabditis elegans as a model, here we show that male animals exhibit enhanced immunity against various pathogenic bacteria via upregulating autophagy. We found that male C. elegans displayed upregulation of helix loop helix 30 (HLH-30)/transcription factor EB (TFEB), a transcription factor crucial for autophagy, which contributed to the enhanced anti-bacterial immunity. We showed that autophagy-related protein 2 (atg-2) that is upregulated by HLH-30/TFEB, mediated increased immunity in male animals. Thus, male C. elegans appear to be equipped with enhanced autophagy for increasing pathogen resistance, likely conferring prolonged mate search with less infection. Overall design: RNA-seq profiling of hlh-30(tm1978) mutant and WT males and hermaphrodites.