Inappropriate activation of innate immune responses in intestinal epithelial cells underlies the pathophysiology of inflammatory disorders of the intestine. Here we examine the physiological effects of immune hyperactivation in the intestine of the nematode C. elegans. We previously identified an immunostimulatory xenobiotic that protects C. elegans from bacterial infection by inducing immune effector expression via the conserved
p38 MAP kinase pathway, but was toxic to nematodes developing in the absence of pathogen. To investigate a possible connection between the toxicity and immunostimulatory properties of this xenobiotic, we conducted a forward genetic screen for C. elegans mutants that are resistant to the deleterious effects of the compound and identified five toxicity suppressors. These strains contained hypomorphic mutations in each of the known components of the
p38 MAP kinase cassette (
tir-1,
nsy-1,
sek-1 and
pmk-1), demonstrating that hyperstimulation of
p38 MAPK innate immune responses is toxic to animals. To explore mechanisms of immune pathway regulation in C. elegans, we conducted another genetic screen for dominant activators of the
p38 MAPK pathway and identified a single allele that had a gain-of-function (gf) mutation in
nsy-1, the MAP kinase kinase kinase that acts upstream of
p38 MAPK
pmk-1. The
nsy-1(gf) allele caused hyperinduction of
p38 MAPK PMK-1-dependent immune effectors, had greater levels of phosphorylated
p38 MAPK and was more resistant to killing by the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa compared to wild-type controls. In addition, the
nsy-1(gf) mutation was toxic to developing animals. Together, these data suggest that the activity of the MAPKKK NSY-1 is tightly regulated as part of a physiological mechanism to control
p38 MAPK-mediated innate immune hyperactivation and ensure cellular homeostasis in C. elegans.