identifier: traitmech:000721
label: nematode-attracting activity
definition: A physiological capability of a microorganism to elicit directed movement
  of nematodes toward itself or substances it produces.
definition_source: DOI:10.7554/eLife.20023
trait_category: PHYSIOLOGY
term_kind: CLASS
mapping_status: PROPOSED
parent_traits:
- METPO:1000059
evidence:
- reference: DOI:10.7554/eLife.20023
  snippet: C. elegans and other nematodes were attracted to volatile compounds produced
    by A. oligospora.
  notes: 'Hsueh et al. 2017, PMID:28098555, scientific abstract; native VERIFIED and
    direct original XML match, not an editorial digest. The producer is Arthrobotrys
    oligospora CBS 115.81. The 2 h assay physically separates fungal material from
    nematodes and compares fungal volatiles with medium controls. Actual Figure 1B/D
    inspected: adult responses are stronger than L1/dauer responses, and not every
    tested nematode species is attracted. Figure 1D, not the capture image 1E, supplies
    the multispecies behavioral comparison. Sodium azide retains arrivals; it is not
    microbial killing evidence. No universal host range, evolutionary adaptation or
    exact pheromone mimicry is inferred.'
- reference: DOI:10.1038/ismej.2015.134
  snippet: We showed that C. elegans is attracted to L. paracasei grown on citrate
    or yuzu media.
  notes: Choi et al. 2016, online 2015, PMID:26241504, Discussion opening paragraph;
    native NOT_IN_ABSTRACT and direct publisher HTML match. Lactobacillus paracasei
    YSM0385-bearing plugs on the lid are compared with matched bacteria-free medium
    in a 1 h adult C. elegans N2 assay. Citrate medium includes glucose plus citrate.
    Actual Figures 1-4 and HTML Table 1 inspected; the table's wild co-occurrence
    observations alone do not establish attraction. Sodium azide retains arrivals,
    not bacterial toxicity. Wild isolate Y091 is only Lactobacillus sp., not an inferred
    L. paracasei assignment. Field recruitment, microbial benefit and nematode fitness
    benefit are not adopted.
discussions:
- discussion_id: nematode-attraction-scope-and-hierarchy
  prompt: Refine the hierarchy while preserving the microbial actor and nematode movement
    endpoint.
  kind: CURATION_TODO
  status: OPEN
  rationale: This is the microorganism's attracting capability, not its own chemotaxis
    or a nematode's sensory trait. Passive retention, co-occurrence, trapping, paralysis,
    killing or consumption alone are insufficient; attraction need not imply any of
    those outcomes. Neither infection nor predatory intent is required. Phenotype
    METPO:1000059 is the conservative parent; the trap-formation, fungal-nematophagy
    and lethal-nematicidal records are related, not equivalents or necessary parents.
    Pinned/current METPO annotations and templates yielded no exact active or deprecated
    counterpart in the documented screen. v597 proposes the missing class. No exact
    synonyms, xrefs or organism-level disjointness are asserted.
  posed_by: codex
  posed_date: '2026-10-13'
- discussion_id: nematode-attraction-source-and-mechanism-limits
  prompt: Resolve source discrepancies and strain provenance before adding canonical
    taxa or microbial mechanisms.
  kind: KNOWLEDGE_GAP
  status: OPEN
  rationale: Hsueh's five-compound exclusivity caption conflicts with a 2-methyl-1-butanol
    medium-control signal in its source workbook; no exclusive chemical signature
    is adopted. The published review exchange questions sex-pheromone mimicry and
    adaptation; host neuronal genetics do not establish fungal genes. Choi's host
    odr-10 allele is ky32 in Methods/captions but ky10 in Results; no correction is
    inferred. Its shared supplement link yields a colony-count image, not a separately
    verified S2 diacetyl calibration. Choi's typeset PDF and complete raw statistics
    were not audited. Strain provenance and authority taxonomy remain unchecked for
    canonical-example purposes. No shared microbial mechanism, proteins or causal
    graph is asserted. Source hashes, native outcomes, bounded notice checks and inspection
    limits are retained in the source verification sidecar.
  posed_by: codex
  posed_date: '2026-10-13'
curation_history:
- timestamp: '2026-10-13T23:01:02Z'
  curator: codex
  action: MINTED_TRAITMECH_ID
  changes: Added a microbial nematode-attracting capability with two DOI-backed primary
    studies and directly matched snippets. Retained host/stage, growth-medium and
    source discrepancies; distinguished attraction from microbial taxis, trapping,
    killing and feeding. Reserved 000721, v597 and 1067400-1067499 after ignored/hidden
    current-copy, retained-history and open/draft PR checks with numeric false positives
    adjudicated. No exact active METPO counterpart was identified in the inspected
    scope. Other records remain unchanged. Timestamp is observed acceptance after
    source and allocation assessment, not the later file write.
  llm_assisted: true