Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Thayanara Cruz da Silva, Tassia Limana da Silveira, Luiza Venturini dos Santos, Leticia Priscila Arantes, Rodrigo Pereira Martins, Felix Alexandre Antunes Soares, Cristiane Lenz Dalla Corte
Summary: This study aimed to investigate the effects of adenosine on the behaviors, morphology, survival after stress conditions, and oxidative stress response pathways in Caenorhabditis elegans. The results showed that adenosine modulated the defecation rate, pharyngeal pumping rate, locomotion, and stress response pathways in the worms. Furthermore, adenosine had modulatory effects on oxidative stress response signaling.
NEUROCHEMICAL RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Cedric Diot, Aurian P. Garcia-Gonzalez, Andre F. Vieira, Melissa Walker, Megan Honeywell, Hailey Doyle, Olga Ponomarova, Yomari Rivera, Huimin Na, Hefei Zhang, Michael Lee, Carissa P. Olsen, Albertha J. M. Walhout
Summary: Tamoxifen, a hormone modulator, exhibits off-target toxicity in Caenorhabditis elegans, which is modulated by different bacteria and involves fatty acid metabolism and cell death mechanisms.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Rong Zhou, Ru Liu, Weixin Li, Yixuan Wang, Xiang Wan, Ninghui Song, Yue Yu, Jiaming Xu, Yuanqing Bu, Aiguo Zhang
Summary: The study revealed that the toxic effects of atrazine on Caenorhabditis elegans were concentration-dependent, leading to changes in body length, lifespan, intestinal ROS levels, locomotion behavior, and brood size. Additionally, atrazine may influence the biological activities of nematodes by modulating the mtUPR pathway.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Gefei Huang, Yiming Ma, Dongying Xie, Cunmin Zhao, Lin Zhu, Guangshan Xie, Pengfei Wu, Wei Wang, Zhongying Zhao, Zongwei Cai
Summary: Plastic pollution poses a significant threat to ecosystems. While the adverse effects of microplastics have been extensively studied, the toxicity of nanoplastics remains unclear, particularly at the protein level. This study used quantitative proteomics to investigate the proteome dynamics in a soil nematode exposed to 100 nm polystyrene nanoplastics (PS-NPs). The results showed that exposure to PS-NPs led to differential expression of proteins related to various cellular processes, and these changes were consistent with the observed phenotypic defects. Overall, this study provides insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying the toxicity of nanoplastics.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Medicinal
Haiyan Wu, Balakrishnan Prithiviraj, Zhijun Tan
Summary: This study evaluated the neurotoxicity and chronic toxicology of Saxitoxin (STX) on Caenorhabditis elegans. It found that STX does not cause lethal effects on the worms but does induce substantial oxidative stress, with a dose-responsive relationship. The lifespan, productivity, and body size of the worms were all influenced by STX exposure.
Editorial Material
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Tong Pan, Elizabeth A. Ronan, X. Z. Shawn Xu
Summary: A new study shows that the heat-sensing neuron AFD is responsible for attracting the parasitic nematode Strongyloides stercoralis to human body heat, using unknown neural mechanisms. Interestingly, this same neuron also plays a role in thermotaxis in the nematode C. elegans.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Sebastian Hoess, Marie-Theres Rauchschwalbe, Hendrik Fueser, Walter Traunspurger
Summary: The effects of 1-μm polystyrene (PS) beads on the reproduction of Caenorhabditis elegans in freshwater sediments were studied using a standardized protocol for toxicity testing. The results showed that the body burdens of PS beads in the nematodes differed between sediments, but not significantly. The ECx-values for C. elegans' reproduction varied among different sediments and were higher than values reported for water exposure, indicating that microplastic reduces food availability and affects reproduction in benthic ecosystems.
Article
Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
Dan Su, Liangming Chen, Xiaohao Du, Mei Liu, Long Jin
Summary: The nematode connectome neural network (NCNN) is a modified convolutional neural network structure that uses the connectome of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as the connection pattern. It improves the accuracy and computational efficiency of image classification. Experimental results on multiple datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed NCNN model.
APPLIED SOFT COMPUTING
(2023)
Article
Agronomy
Satish Kumar Rajasekharan, Chaitany Jayprakash Raorane, Jintae Lee
Summary: This study presents a straightforward, rapid, eco-friendly, and efficient method for isolating nematode eggs and synchronizing nematode stages. The method involves using bacterial or fungal feed chunks to lure nematodes, and then gently washing the consumed feed to collect the eggs. The protocol proves to be a reliable, simple means of separating eggs from adults and inducing the synchronization of nematodes.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Lisa van Sluijs, Jie Liu, Mels Schrama, Sanne van Hamond, Sophie P. J. M. Vromans, Marel H. Scholten, Nika Zibrat, Joost A. G. Riksen, Gorben P. Pijlman, Mark G. Sterken, Jan E. Kammenga
Summary: The impact of Orsay virus on mating dynamics in the nematode C. elegans was studied, revealing that males are more resistant to the virus. Viral presence can alter mating dynamics within isogenic populations, with males showing a preference for mating with uninfected individuals.
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Nakul Sridhar, Apresio Kefin Fajrial, Rachel L. Doser, Frederic J. Hoerndli, Xiaoyun Ding
Summary: Caenorhabditis elegans is an important genetic model for neuroscience studies, but most studies are limited in obtaining both high-resolution microscopy imaging and behavior analysis in the same set of animals. In this paper, a novel microfluidic device using surface acoustic waves is presented to temporarily immobilize worms, allowing for non-invasive analysis of behavior and high-resolution imaging. This device enables longitudinal analysis of animal motility and subcellular morphological changes during development and aging.
Article
Cell Biology
Khairun Nisaa, Anat Ben-Zvi
Summary: Muscle proteostasis is regulated by the myogenic transcription factor MyoD. This study demonstrates that MyoD can modulate chaperone expression in terminally differentiated muscle cells, indicating its role in muscle maintenance.
FRONTIERS IN CELL AND DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Adam J. Iliff, Can Wang, Elizabeth A. Ronan, Alison E. Hake, Yuling Guo, Xia Li, Xinxing Zhang, Maohua Zheng, Jianfeng Liu, Karl Grosh, R. Keith Duncan, X. Z. Shawn Xu
Summary: The ability to sense airborne sound extends beyond vertebrates and arthropods to include invertebrates as well, suggesting convergent evolution of auditory capabilities in the animal kingdom. The discovery challenges the conventional view that invertebrates are insensitive to sound and highlights the unexpected role of nAChRs in mechanosensation. Animals without ears should not be automatically presumed to be sound insensitive.
Article
Cell Biology
Catia Igreja, Tobias Loschko, Alejandra Schaefer, Radhika Sharma, Shiela Pearl Quiobe, Elbin Aloshy, Hanh Witte, Ralf J. Sommer
Summary: The detection, manipulation and purification of proteins are crucial in modern life sciences studies. The introduction of the ALFA-tag provides a novel epitope tag for nematode research with a wide range of applications, such as super-resolution microscopy and immunoprecipitation. This study successfully demonstrates the utilization of ALFA-tagging in nematode model organisms, leading to high-resolution protein expression and successful pulldown experiments.
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Liesa Salzer, Michael Witting
Summary: Metabolomics and lipidomics have gained interest in the model organism C. elegans due to its fast development, easy cultivation, and existing genetic tools. Different analytical approaches such as NMR, mass spectrometry, and chromatography have been employed for metabolomic analyses. The reviewed literature also includes application fields, bioinformatic tools, and a curated collection of metabolites and lipids for a future C. elegans-specific metabolome database.
