From paper: "No obvious phenotype was observed upon knockdown of either
dnj-12,
dnj-13, or
dnj-19 by feeding RNAi to wild-type nematodes (data not shown). Although RNAi against
dnj-12 or
dnj-19 also did not alter the life span of
unc-23(
ok1408) nematodes, RNAi against
dnj-13 improved the health of the mutated strain. The life span of
unc-23(
ok1408) nematodes in the presence of RNAi against
dnj-13 increased from roughly 5 days, as observed in untreated
unc-23 deletion strains, to about 11 days (Fig. 7A). The debilitating growth phenotype was almost absent, with only a weak head-bent phenotype remaining (Fig. 7B). The motility as observed in thrashing assays also improved significantly (Fig. 7C). Further, the head muscle cells observable from the dense body structure in differential interference contrast images are apparent in RNAi-treated nematodes, whereas they are not visible in
unc-23 mutated nematodes (Fig. 7D) (16). Thus, large parts of the phenotypes observed in
unc-23 mutated nematodes originate only in the presence of DNJ-13, and the reduction of DNJ-13 levels by RNA interference restores the wild-type appearance."