Fig. 3

Strongyloides species display life-stage-specific bacterial preferences. a The bacterial panel used to examine the interactions of Strongyloides iL3s and free-living adults with bacteria. The bacteria are categorized according to the major environmental niches where they are likely to interact with Strongyloides species (Additional file 6: Table S1), although we note that some of the bacteria are also found more broadly in the environment. Categories (left to right): skin, fecal/gut, environmental/other. b S. stercoralis free-living adults were robustly attracted to most bacteria tested in a bacterial chemotaxis assay. n = 20–40 trials for each condition, with 75–150 worms per trial. *p< 0.05, ****p< 0.0001, ns = not significant, Kruskal-Wallis test with Dunn’s post-test. c S. stercoralis iL3s did not respond to most bacteria but were attracted to one of the environmental/other bacterial species tested. n = 20–30 trials for each condition, with 300-400 worms per trial. ****p< 0.0001, Kruskal-Wallis test with Dunn’s post-test. d S. ratti free-living adults were robustly attracted to most of the bacterial species tested in a bacterial chemotaxis assay. n = 20–34 trials for each condition, with 75–150 worms per trial. **p< 0.01, ****p< 0.0001, ns = not significant, Kruskal-Wallis test with Dunn’s post-test. e S. ratti iL3s did not respond to most bacteria but were attracted to two environmental/other bacterial species tested. n = 20–26 trials for each condition, with 300–400 worms per trial. *p< 0.05, ***p< 0.001, Kruskal-Wallis test with Dunn’s post-test. Each bacterial species was compared to the LB control; only significant differences are noted. Graphs show the chemotaxis indices for each trial (points), medians (solid lines), and interquartile ranges (dashed lines). Bacteria are color-coded according to the legend shown on the right