Abstract: The effects of the plant pathogen on the basic biological characteristics of Caenorhabditis elegans were studied by co-culture of C. elegans and C. gloeosporioides. The results showed that C. gloeosporioides had great impact on the survival, body length and reproductive of C. elegans. The survival rate of C. elegans decreased obviously after exposing to C. gloeosporioides, and the age of the worm was directly related to the half death time, which was 108 h in L1 stage and 144 h in L4 stage, respectively. The conidia concentration of C. gloeosporioides spores was negatively correlated with the survival of C. elegans. The body length of C. elegans in co-culture with C. gloeosporioides grew shorter evidently, and the reproductive of C. elegans was significantly decreased. However, C. gloeosporioides had no significant influence on C. elegans’ motility capacity and pharynx pump capacity. The results indicated that C. gloeosporioides could harm C. elegans to some extent and might activate the innate immune system of C. elegans. The interaction system between C. gloeosporioides and C. elegans may be a powerful tool for studying the evolution of innate immunity.

Key words: Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Caenorhabditis elegans, survival, body length, reproductive