A Transparent Window into Biology: A Primer on <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i>

Corsi, Ann K.; Wightman, Bruce; Chalfie, Martin

doi:10.1534/genetics.115.176099

Cited by 405 publications

(252 citation statements)

References 190 publications

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“…C. elegans is a model organism for studying a variety of biological processes [34]. We previously identified mutations affecting the C. elegans orthologs of the U2AF large subunit (UAF-1 in C. elegans , U2AF65 or U2AF2 in mammals), splicing factor one (SFA-1) [35] and the splicing factor microfibrillar associated protein 1 (MFAP-1) [36] by screening for essential gene suppressors of a unc-93(gf) rubberband phenotype [37].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

RBM-5 modulates U2AF large subunit-dependent alternative splicing inC. elegans

Zhou

Gao

et al. 2018

RNA Biology

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A key step in pre-mRNA splicing is the recognition of 3ʹ splicing sites by the U2AF large and small subunits, a process regulated by numerous trans-acting splicing factors. How these trans-acting factors interact with U2AF in vivo is unclear. From a screen for suppressors of the temperature-sensitive (ts) lethality of the C. elegans U2AF large subunit gene uaf-1(n4588) mutants, we identified mutations in the RNA binding motif gene rbm-5, a homolog of the tumor suppressor gene RBM5. rbm-5 mutations can suppress uaf-1(n4588) ts-lethality by loss of function and neuronal expression of rbm-5 was sufficient to rescue the suppression. Transcriptome analyses indicate that uaf-1(n4588) affected the expression of numerous genes and rbm-5 mutations can partially reverse the abnormal gene expression to levels similar to that of wild type. Though rbm-5 mutations did not obviously affect alternative splicing per se, they can suppress or enhance, in a gene-specific manner, the altered splicing of genes in uaf-1(n4588) mutants. Specifically, the recognition of a weak 3ʹ splice site was more susceptible to the effect of rbm-5. Our findings provide novel in vivo evidence that RBM-5 can modulate UAF-1-dependent RNA splicing and suggest that RBM5 might interact with U2AF large subunit to affect tumor formation.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

RBM-5 modulates U2AF large subunit-dependent alternative splicing inC. elegans

Zhou

Gao

et al. 2018

RNA Biology

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“…Caenorhabditis elegans is an important, small model nematode pivotal to experiments on gene regulation, metabolism, ageing, cell signaling, chemical screening, drug discovery, and space flight. [28][29][30][31][32] Compared to its mammalian counterparts, C. elegans is well-suited for high-throughput, large scale biological experiments because of the ease to culture on a diet of Escherichia coli, ability to grow from an egg to an adult within three days, and capacity to produce over 300 progeny. 28,29 In this context, polymer-based microfluidics has emerged as an enabling technology for C. elegans research where on-chip automation has streamlined the steps of worm capture, immobilization, transport, screening, sorting, and/or tracking.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[28][29][30][31][32] Compared to its mammalian counterparts, C. elegans is well-suited for high-throughput, large scale biological experiments because of the ease to culture on a diet of Escherichia coli, ability to grow from an egg to an adult within three days, and capacity to produce over 300 progeny. 28,29 In this context, polymer-based microfluidics has emerged as an enabling technology for C. elegans research where on-chip automation has streamlined the steps of worm capture, immobilization, transport, screening, sorting, and/or tracking. [33][34][35][36] For instance, in the fields of pharmacology and drug discovery, it is possible to trap individual worms within discrete liquid droplets in a microfluidic chip and simultaneously screen them for a range of drug concentrations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flexible and disposable paper- and plastic-based gel micropads for nematode handling, imaging, and chemical testing

et al. 2017

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Today, the area of point-of-care diagnostics is synonymous with paper microfluidics where cheap, disposable, and on-the-spot detection toolkits are being developed for a variety of chemical tests. In this work, we present a novel application of microfluidic paper-based analytical devices (μPADs) to study the behavior of a small model nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans. We describe schemes of μPAD fabrication on paper and plastic substrates where membranes are created in agarose and Pluronic gel. Methods are demonstrated for loading, visualizing, and transferring single and multiple nematodes. Using an anthelmintic drug, levamisole, we show that chemical testing on C. elegans is easily performed because of the open device structure. A custom program is written to automatically recognize individual worms on the μPADs and extract locomotion parameters in real-time. The combination of μPADs and the nematode tracking program provides a relatively low-cost, simple-to-fabricate imaging and screening assay (compared to standard agarose plates or polymeric microfluidic devices) for non-microfluidic, nematode laboratories.

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“…elegans is a small worm with a life expectancy of about 21 days that has rapid growth and feeds on non-pathogenic strains of Escherichia coli [11][12][13][14]. It's a little worm from all over the world.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It's a little worm from all over the world. As newly hatched larvae are 0.25 millimeters in length and adults 1 millimeters in length ( Figure 1) [11,14]. In stage L4, hermaphrodites have a conical tail and a developing vulva (white arrowhead) can be seen as a clear half-circle in the center of the ventral side.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advances in the Use of Caenorhabditis Choose in the Nutritional Study of Obesity

Gh¹,

Costa²,

Tec³

et al. 2017

J Diabetes Metab

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Obesity is characterized as a health problem of high prevalence worldwide, and to date, about two thirds of the US population is affected, generating a high financial cost for health management systems. Traditionally, the model for the study of obesity has been rodents, mainly rats and mice, and although the obesity field has progressed a lot, there has been a clear need for a cheaper and more efficient model. C. elegans is a small worm with a life expectancy of about 21 days that possesses rapid growth and feeds on non-pathogenic strains of Escherichia coli. This small nematode has about 60 to 80 percent of its genes related to human diseases, and it is now known to the scientific community that manipulating its genome can provide valuable information to define the pathophysiological aspects of obesity. C. elegans has been successfully reported as an animal model in research related to nutritional physiology, in addition to the characterization of several metabolic pathways, storage mechanisms and lipid release. In recent years, due to the advances of C. elegans in the physiological characterization of lipid metabolism, it is now possible with its use as an animal model to offer the possibility of in vivo identification of compounds that modulate fat storage.

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A Transparent Window into Biology: A Primer on Caenorhabditis elegans

Cited by 405 publications

References 190 publications

RBM-5 modulates U2AF large subunit-dependent alternative splicing inC. elegans

RBM-5 modulates U2AF large subunit-dependent alternative splicing inC. elegans

Flexible and disposable paper- and plastic-based gel micropads for nematode handling, imaging, and chemical testing

Advances in the Use of Caenorhabditis Choose in the Nutritional Study of Obesity

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