Abstract
Microsporidia are common natural pathogens of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans . Infection of C. elegans by the microsporidian species Nematocida parisii leads to induction of the Intracellular Pathogen Response (IPR), including transcriptional upregulation of 26 pals genes. The divergent ' pals ' sequence signature is conserved with humans, but PALS proteins have unknown biochemical functions. So far, none of the 26 induced pals genes have a demonstrated role in immunity. Here, we use RNAseq data, RNA interference, and CRISPR/Cas9 mutant analysis to identify the N. parisii -induced pals-14 gene as an immune gene that provides defense against microsporidia infection in C. elegans .