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[
Cell Metab,
2005]
In C. elegans, dauer pheromone is an indicator of population density and influences pathways that regulate metabolism, development, and aging. In a recent publication in Nature, Paik and coworkers (Jeong et al., 2005) show the purified substance to be a pyran ring conjugated to heptanoic acid, setting the stage for dissecting downstream signaling pathways.
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[
Trends Genet,
2018]
Any adult who has tried to take up the piano or learn a new language is faced with the sobering realization that acquiring such skills is more challenging as an adult than as a child. Neuronal plasticity, or the malleability of brain circuits, declines with age. Young neurons tend to be more adaptable and can alter the size and strength of their connections more readily than can old neurons. Myriad circuit- and synapse-level mechanisms that shape plasticity have been identified. Yet, molecular mechanisms setting the overall competence of young neurons for distinct forms of plasticity remain largely obscure. Recent studies indicate evolutionarily conserved roles for FoxO proteins in establishing the capacity for cell-fate, morphological, and synaptic plasticity in neurons.
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[
Exp Biol Med (Maywood),
2008]
5''-AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) has been called "the metabolic master switch" because of its central role in regulating fuel homeostasis. AMPK, a heterotrimeric serine/threonine protein kinase composed of alpha, beta, and gamma subunits, is activated by upstream kinases and by 5''-AMP in response to various nutritional and stress signals. Downstream effects include regulation of metabolism, protein synthesis, cell growth, and mediation of the actions of a number of hormones, including leptin. However, AMPK research represents a young and growing field; hence, there are many unanswered questions regarding the control and action of AMPK. This review presents evidence for the existence of AMPK signaling pathways in Caenorhabditis elegans, a genetically tractable model organism that has yet to be fully exploited to elucidate AMPK signaling mechanisms.
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[
Elife,
2015]
The roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans has risen to the status of a top model organism for biological research in the last fifty years. Among laboratory animals, this tiny nematode is one of the simplest and easiest organisms to handle. And its life outside the laboratory is beginning to be unveiled. Like other model organisms, C. elegans has a boom-and-bust lifestyle. It feasts on ephemeral bacterial blooms in decomposing fruits and stems. After resource depletion, its young larvae enter a migratory diapause stage, called the dauer. Organisms known to be associated with C. elegans include migration vectors (such as snails, slugs and isopods) and pathogens (such as microsporidia, fungi, bacteria and viruses). By deepening our understanding of the natural history of C. elegans, we establish a broader context and improved tools for studying its biology.
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[
Mol Aspects Med,
2022]
Precision medicine strives for highly individualized treatments for disease under the notion that each individual's unique genetic makeup and environmental exposures imprints upon them not only a disposition to illness, but also an optimal therapeutic approach. In the realm of rare disorders, genetic predisposition is often the predominant mechanism driving disease presentation. For such, mostly, monogenic disorders, a causal gene to phenotype association is likely. As a result, it becomes important to query the patient's genome for the presence of pathogenic variations that are likely to cause the disease. Determining whether a variant is pathogenic or not is critical to these analyses and can be challenging, as many disease-causing variants are novel and, ergo, have no available functional data to help categorize them. This problem is exacerbated by the need for rapid evaluation of pathogenicity, since many genetic diseases present in young children who will experience increased morbidity and mortality without rapid diagnosis and therapeutics. Here, we discuss the utility of animal models, with a focus mainly on C. elegans, as a contrast to tissue culture and in silico approaches, with emphasis on how these systems are used in determining pathogenicity of variants with uncertain significance and then used to screen for novel therapeutics.
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[
International Journal of Developmental Biology,
1998]
Pleiotropy , a situation in which a single gene influences multiple phenotypic tra its, can arise in a variety of ways. This paper discusses possible underlying mechanisms and proposes a classification of the various phenomena involved.
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[
Curr Biol,
2003]
A novel protein in Caenorhabditis elegans, SAS-4, is a component of centrioles and is required for centriole duplication. Depletion of SAS-4 results in stunted centrioles and a smaller centrosome, suggesting a link to organelle size control.
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[
1980]
The practical use of free-living nematodes for aging studies must overcome two problems. Not only must cultures begin with organisms of a similar age, but also reproduction must be prevented, or synchrony will be lost and the aging cultures will become contaminated with newborn orrganisms and will eventually revert to typical "mixed" cultures. The problem of obtaining uniformly small organisms to start cultures has been solved by the use of screens for Turbatrix aceti and the hatching of isolated egg masses for Caenorhabditis elegans. Subsequent reproduction is prevented by the use of the DNA inhibitor fluorodeoxyuridine, or by culturing the organisms at elevated temperatures. Another practical method for aging of T. aceti is the use of a repeated screening process that periodically removes small (young) organisms from the aging cultures.
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[
Curr Biol,
1997]
An increasing body of evidence indicates that
p53, the product of a tumour suppressor gene, has a role in development - could this developmental role have provided the primary driving force in the evolution of a protein best known as a stress-response integrator?
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[
Genome Biol,
2009]
Comparison of a regulatory network that specifies dopaminergic neurons in Caenorhabditis elegans to the development of vertebrate dopamine systems in the mouse reveals a possible partial conservation of such a network.