Hydrogen Peroxide-Mediated Killing of Caenorhabditis elegans : a Common Feature of Different Streptococcal Species

Abstract
Recently, we reported that Streptococcus pyogenes kills Caenorhabditis elegans by the use of hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ). Here we show that diverse streptococcal species cause death of C. elegans larvae in proportion to the level of H 2 O 2 produced. H 2 O 2 may mask the effects of other pathogenicity factors of catalase-negative bacteria in the C. elegans infection model.