Infarinato N (2019) J Cell Biol "Xiaochen Wang: Building up our understanding of breaking down."

Infarinato N

[J Cell Biol, 2019]

Wang studies lysosomal degradation pathways using <i>C. elegans</i> as a model system.

Wang JT et al. (2014) Curr Biol "P granules."

Seydoux G, Wang JT

[Curr Biol, 2014]

Wang and Seydoux discuss the functional importance of P granules - the germline-specific RNA granules of C. elegans.

Munro E (2017) Dev Cell "Protein Clustering Shapes Polarity Protein Gradients."

Munro E

[Dev Cell, 2017]

In this issue of Developmental Cell, Dickinson etal. (2017) and Rodriguez etal. (2017), along with Wang etal. (2017) in Nature Cell Biology, show how PAR protein oligomerization can dynamically couple protein diffusion and transport by cortical flow to control kinase activity gradients and polarity in the C.elegans zygote.

Rashid S et al. (2017) Dev Cell "Packing on the Pounds in Response to Bacterial Growth Conditions."

Rashid S, MacNeil LT

[Dev Cell, 2017]

Reporting in Nature Cell Biology, Lin and Wang (2017) show that bacterial methyl metabolism impacts host mitochondrial dynamics and lipid storage in C.elegans. The authors propose a model whereby bacterial metabolic products regulate a nuclear hormone receptor that promotes lipid accumulation through expression of a secreted Hedgehog-like protein.

Vincenz L et al. (2014) Cell "Sugarcoating ER Stress."

Vincenz L, Hartl FU

[Cell, 2014]

The hexosamine biosynthetic pathway (HBP) generates metabolites for protein N- and O-glycosylation. Wang et al. and Denzel et al. report a hitherto unknown link between the HBP and stress in the endoplasmic reticulum. These studies establish the HBP as a critical component of the cellular machinery of protein homeostasis.

Sural S (2023) Trends Genet "Protecting axons in grandchildren."

Sural S

[Trends Genet, 2023]

Prenatal exposure to environmental agents can influence the fitness of not only the fetus, but also subsequent generations. In a recent study, Wang et al. demonstrated that feeding ursolic acid (UA), a plant-derived compound, to Caenorhabditis elegans mothers during their reproductive period prevented neurodegeneration in not only their offspring, but also the F2 progeny.

Spalthoff C et al. (2016) Neuron "Sensing pH with TMCs."

Gopfert MC, Spalthoff C

[Neuron, 2016]

Transmembrane channel-like (TMC) proteins have been implicated in hair cell mechanotransduction, Drosophila proprioception, and sodium sensing in the nematode C.elegans. In this issue of Neuron, Wang etal. (2016) report that C.elegans TMC-1 mediates nociceptor responses to high pH, not sodium, allowing the nematode to avoid strongly alkaline environments in which most animals cannot survive.

Matsumoto M et al. (2005) Cell Metab "All roads lead to FoxO."

Accili D, Matsumoto M

[Cell Metab, 2005]

Stress-activated kinases control metabolism by antagonizing the early steps of insulin signal transduction. Two papers now demonstrate that Jnk, the prototypical stress-activated kinase, controls life span in Drosophila and C. elegans by promoting phosphorylation of the forkhead protein FoxO (Oh et al., 2005; Wang et al., 2005). The findings provide yet another mechanism by which metabolic and stress responses are integrated via phosphorylation of FoxO proteins.

Fang Z et al. Indian J Med Microbiol "A recombinant plasmid of composite cysteine proteinase inhibitor/glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase gene of periodic Brugia malayi functions on DNA immunity in the host."

Lu SJ, Wang YY, Fang H, Fang Z, Xu Q, Wu JQ

[Indian J Med Microbiol]

OBJECTIVES: Both cysteine proteinase inhibitors (CPIs) and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) play important roles in the pathogenesis of parasites and their relationship with the hosts. We constructed a new eukaryotic recombinant expression plasmid pcDNA3.1(+)-BmCPI/BmGAPDH of periodic Brugia malayi for investigation of the DNA vaccine-elicited immune responses. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We cloned a gene encoding the CPIs and GAPDH from periodic B. malayi into vector pcDNA3.1. The composited plasmid or the control was injected into the tibialis anterior muscle of the hind leg in BALB/c mice, respectively. The target genes were detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction in muscle tissues. The stimulation index (SI) of T-lymphocyte proliferation and the levels of interferon-gamma (INF-g) and interleukin-4 ( IL-4) in serum were detected by thiazolyl blue tetrazolium blue and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. RESULTS: The pcDNA3.1(+)-BmCPI/BmGAPDH was amplified from muscle tissues of the mice after immunisation. The SI of the immunised group was significantly higher than that of the two control groups (P &lt; 0.05). The levels of INF-g and IL-4 of pcDNA3.1(+)-BmCPI/BmGAPDH group were both higher than those of the two control groups (P &lt; 0.05). The level of INF-g of pcDNA3.1(+)-BmCPI/BmGAPDH group was significantly higher than that of pcDNA3.1(+)-BmCPI/CpG group (P &lt; 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that the recombinant plasmid pcDNA3.1(+)-BmCPI/BmGAPDH could elicit specific humoural and cellular immune responses in mice.

Li T et al. (2022) STAR Protoc "Live imaging of postembryonic developmental processes in C.elegans."

Wang X, Zou Y, Li T, Feng Z

[STAR Protoc, 2022]

Live imaging is an important tool to track dynamic processes such as neuronal patterning events. Here, we describe a protocol for time-lapse microscopy analysis using neuronal migration and dendritic growth as examples. This protocol can provide detailed information for understanding cellular dynamics during postembryonic development in Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans). For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Feng etal. (2020), Li etal. (2021), and Wang etal. (2021).