Better living through communal eating

Abstract

Caenorhabditis elegans do not grow on either Staphylococcus saprophyticus or heat-killed Escherichia coli, but do so when exposed to both. In this issue of Cell Host & Microbe, Geng and colleagues have identified E. coli-derived signals as well as the host's neural and innate immunity pathways that promote digestion of S. saprophyticus.