<p>LA accumulation enhances pathogen avoidance.</p>

The diagram depicts all known steps in PUFA synthesis as well as the elongase and desaturase enzymes involved. Abbreviations: PA, palmitic acid; PLA, palmitoleic acid; VA, vaccenic acid; SA, stearic acid; OA, oleic acid; LA, linoleic acid; ALA, alpha-linolenic acid; GLA, gamma-linolenic acid; STA, stearidonic acid; DGLA, dihommo gamma-linolenic acid; ETA, eicosatrienoic acid; AA, arachidonic acid; EPA, eicosapentaenoic acid. <b>(E)</b> <i>P. aeruginosa</i> occupancy index in wild-type and <i>nhr-68(gk708)</i> animals treated with vehicle or VA at 8 h and 12 h.

The occupancy index was calculated as (<i>N</i>_on lawn/<i>N</i>_total). VA, vaccenic acid. The bars represent the means, while the error bars indicate the SDs of three independent experiments (<i>N</i> = 3; <i>n</i> = 90 animals per condition per experiment). <b>(F)</b> qRT–PCR analysis of <i>fat-1</i>, <i>fat-2</i>, <i>fat-3</i> and <i>fat-4</i> in animals fed on <i>E. coli</i>.

Data are presented as the mean ± SD from three independent experiments (<i>N</i> = 3; <i>n</i> = 200 animals per condition per biological replicate). ***<i>p</i> < 0.001, <i>t</i> tes<i>t</i>. <b>(G)</b> GC–MS analysis of linoleic acid abundance in <i>fat-3</i> RNAi animals. Animals fed empty vector or <i>fat-3</i> RNAi were harvested under <i>E. coli</i> or <i>P. aeruginosa</i> conditions and subjected to GC–MS-based metabolomic profiling. <b>(H)</b> Quantification of linoleic acid abundance in control and <i>P. aeruginosa</i>-exposed animals.

Data are presented as mean ± SD. One-way ANOVA was used to determine statistical significance. <i>N</i> = 3; <i>n</i> = 2,000 animals per condition per experiment. <b>(I)</b> <i>P. aeruginosa</i> occupancy indexe of wild-type and <i>nhr-68(gk708)</i> animals fed empty vector control or <i>fat-3</i> RNAi at 8 h and 12 h. <b>(J)</b> <i>P. aeruginosa</i> occupancy indexe of wild-type and <i>nhr-68(gk708)</i> animals fed empty vector control or <i>fat-2</i> RNAi at 8 h and 12 h.

The occupancy index was calculated as (<i>N</i>_on lawn/<i>N</i>_total). Data are presented as mean ± SD from three independent experiments (<i>N</i> = 3; <i>n</i> = 90 animals per condition per experiment). The data underlying this Figure can be found in <a href="plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.3004026#pbio.3004026.s009" target="_blank">S1 Data</a>.</p>