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Science,
1996]
What 's the secret to long life? For the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, it's slow, easy living, in which all life's events occur in a leisurely rhythm, according to work described on page 1010 of this issue. The new research, by Siegfried Hekimi and Bernard Lakowski of McGill University in Montreal, identifies four genes that, when mutated, can make these worms use energy more efficiently, feed and swim at a slower pace-and live many times their normal life-span. Some of the experimental nematodes lived for almost 2 months, far longer than their expected 9 days.
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[
Nature,
1998]
Cytochrome c leads a double life. When a cell is called on to commit apoptotic suicide, cytochrome c relocalizes from the mitochondria to the cytosol. There, it helps to activate the foot-soldiers of apoptosis - the death proteases known as caspases. How cytochrome c escapes from the mitochondria is still a matter of debate, but it is clear that certain elements within the apoptotic regulatory hierarchy do not condone such behavior. In particular, overexpression of the cell-death suppressors Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL prevents the release of cytochrome c, suggesting that these proteins act upstream of cytochrome c in the pathway to death. However, on pages 449 and 496 of this issue, Zhivotovsky et al. and Rosse et al. show that Bcl-2 can also protect cells downstream of cytochrome c release, forcing a re-evaluation of this newly acquired dogma.
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[
Science,
1998]
The near completion of the sequence of the C. elegans genome should provide researchers with a gold mine of information on topics ranging from evolution to gene
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[
Nature,
2003]
The genome of the microscopic worm Caenorhabditis briggsae has been sequenced, and show some remarkable differences from the genome of the better known - and physically similar - C. elegans.
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[
BMB Rep,
2018]
Mitochondria are crucial organelles that generate cellular energy and metabolites. Recent studies indicate that mitochondria also regulate immunity. In this review, we discuss key roles of mitochondria in immunity against pathogen infection and underlying mechanisms, focusing on discoveries using Caenorhabditis elegans. Various mitochondrial processes, including mitochondrial surveillance mechanisms, mitochondrial unfolded protein response (UPRmt), mitophagy, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, contribute to immune responses and resistance of C. elegans against pathogens. Biological processes of C. elegans are usually conserved across phyla. Thus, understanding the mechanisms of mitochondria-mediated defense responses in C. elegans may provide insights into similar mechanisms in complex organisms, including mammals.
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Nat Neurosci,
2001]
A characterization of C. elegans lacking the gene for Rim suggests that this protein may be involved in pruning synaptic vesicles for fusion, not in docking or organizing active zones.
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[
Science,
1997]
A gene that helps control the life-span of the nematode C. elegans encodes the worm version of the insulin receptor, thereby providing a possible link between aging and glucose metabolism.
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[
Nat Neurosci,
2003]
A new study in this issue demonstrates that two GABAergic motor neurons in C. elegans are excitatory at target muscles because GABA activates a ligand-gated cation conductance, which is structurally similar to several other ligand-gated channels.
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[
Nat Neurosci,
2003]
In C. elegans, social and solitary feeding behavior can be determined by a single amino acid change in a G protein-coupled receptor. A new study identifies ligands for this receptor and suggests how changes in behavior evolve at the molecular level.
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[
Science,
1990]
An exhaustive study of the tiny roundworm C. elegans has revealed a wealth of information about development and the brain. And now the effort to decipher the worm's genome is fast becoming the benchmark by which the human genome project will be measured.