Name: measurements of physiological stress responses in c. elegans
Uploaded: 2020-05-21T13:30:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Measurements of Physiological Stress Responses in C. Elegans at JoVE.com

R.BZ. is supported by the EMBO long term fellowship and The Larry L. Hillblom Foundation. R.H.S is supported by grant 5F32AG032023-02 through the National Institute of Aging (NIA) and the Glenn Foundation for Medical Research Postdoctoral Fellowship. A.F. is supported by grant F32AG051355 through the NIA. H.K.G. is supported by grant DGE1752814 through the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program. M.G.M. is supported by 1F31AG060660-01 through NIA. A.D. is supported by the Thomas and Stacey Siebel Foundation, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and 4R01AG042679-04 and 5R01AG055891-02 from NIA, and 5R01ES021667-09 from NIEHS. We thank Larry Joe, Melissa Sanchez, Naame Kelet, and Anel Esquivel for significant technical assistance. We thank the Morimoto lab and the CGC (funded by NIH Office of Research Infrastructure Program P40 OD010440) for strains.

1. Standard growth conditions of temperatures &#38; OP50 vs HT115
<ol>
	<li>Standard growth and expansion
	<ol>
		<li>Grow a culture of OP50 in LB (Table 1) or equivalent media of choice for 24-48 h at ambient temperature (~22-25 &#176;C). Grow bacteria at room temperature as OP50 is an uracil auxotroph and there is a higher incidence of revertants (e.g., suppressor mutants) when grown at 37 &#176;C. Long-term storage of OP50 cultures is not recommended (max 1 week at 4 &#176;C).</li>
		<li>Seed a volu...

Here, methods to interrogate cellular stress responses in C. elegans, using fluorescent transcriptional reporters and physiological stress survival assays are described. The reporters all utilize GFP expression driven under the promoter of a downstream transcriptional target of the transcription factors involved in mounting cellular stress responses. The use of hsp-4p::GFP modulated by XBP-1s-mediated UPRER, hsp-6p::GFP controlled by ATFS-1-mediated UPRMT, gst-4p::GFP<...

The ability of an organism to respond to changes in the intra- and extracellular environment is crucial for its survival and adaptation. This is accomplished on a cellular level through numerous protective pathways that ensure the integrity of the cell. While numerous cellular components are subject to stress-associated damage, one major involvement of cellular stress responses is to repair and protect the homeostasis of the cellular proteome. However, the compartmentalization of proteins into special structures, called organelles, poses a challenge for the cell, as it cannot rely on one centralized form of protein quality control to ensure that all the proteins within the cell are properly folded and functional. Therefore, to deal with perturbations to their proteins, organelles have evolved dedicated quality control mechanisms, which can sense misfolded proteins and activate a stress response in an attempt to alleviate the stress within that compartment. For example, the cytosol relies on the heat shock response (HSR), while the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and mitochondria rely on their compartment-specific unfolded protein responses (UPR). The OxSR serves to alleviate the toxic effects of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Each stress response is triggered in the presence of cellular challenges and environmental insults and induces a tailored transcriptional response. The hallmarks of these responses include synthesizing molecules that re-fold misfolded proteins (such as chaperones) targeted to the proper organelle, or alternatively, remove damaged proteins by protein degradation. Failure to activate these stress responses results in accumulation of damaged proteins, cellular dysfunction propagated to systemic failure of tissues, and eventually death of the organism. The function and regulation of the different stress responses are reviewed elsewhere1.
Many insights regarding the regulation and activity of cellular stress responses have been attributed to the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans, a multicellular model organism in genetic research. Nematodes not only allow studying the activation of stress responses on the cellular level, but also on the organismal level; nematodes have been used to study the effects of genetic perturbations or exposure to drugs and pollutants on their growth and survival. Their quick generation time, isogeny, transparency, genetic tractability, and ease of use during experimentation make them ideal for such studies. Additionally, the relatively quick physiological response to stress (between hours and a few days) and the evolutionary conservation of cellular pathways make nematodes a prominent tool in studying stress resistance.
There are two commonly used E. coli strains used as a food source to grow C. elegans: standard OP50, a B strain in which most experimentation has been historically performed2 and HT115, a K-12 strain that is used for almost all RNAi experiments3,4. It is important to note that there are significant differences between OP50 and HT115 bacterial diets. Growth on these different bacterial sources has been shown to cause major differences in metabolic profile, mitochondrial DNA copy number, and several major phenotypes, including lifespan5. Some of these differences are attributed to Vitamin B12 deficiency associated with growth on OP50 bacteria, which can result in defects in mitochondrial homeostasis and increased sensitivity to pathogens and stresses. All of these phenotypes have been shown to be alleviated by growth on HT115 bacteria, which have higher levels of Vitamin B126. Therefore, it is recommended that all experiments on physiological stress responses be performed on HT115 bacteria, regardless of the necessity of RNAi conditions. However, due to the ease of maintaining animals on OP50, all standard growth (i.e., maintenance and amplification of animals) can be performed on OP50, as significant differences in the experimental paradigms described here were not detected in worms maintained on OP50 as long as they were moved to HT115 post synchronization (i.e., from hatch post-bleaching with or without L1 arresting) until experimentation.
Here, the characterization of the activity of cellular stress responses using two functional methods is described. It should be noted that the protocols presented are primarily focused on cellular stress responses and their impact on protein homeostasis. First, fluorescent transcriptional reporters are utilized, which are regulated by endogenous gene promoters that are specifically activated in response to different cellular stresses. These fluorescent transcriptional reporters are based on the transcriptional induction of specific genes that are natively part of the stress response. For example, HSP-4, a heat shock protein orthologous to the human chaperone HSPA5/BiP, is activated upon ER-stress and localizes to the ER to alleviate the stress. In conditions of ER stress (e.g., exposure to tunicamycin), a green fluorescent protein (GFP), placed under the regulation of the hsp-4 promoter, is synthesized in high levels as can be assessed by fluorescent microscopy or quantitatively measured using large-particle flow cytometry of nematodes7. Similarly, the promoter of a mitochondrial chaperone, hsp-6 (orthologous to mammalian HSPA9), is utilized to monitor the activation of the UPRMT8, and the promoter of the cytosolic chaperone hsp-16.2 (orthologous to the human crystallin alpha genes) is used for assessing the activity of the HSR9. These reporters allow a rapid characterization of the pathways activated in response to various perturbations.
Often, the reporters presented here are imaged using microscopy, which provides a qualitative output of the activation of stress responses. However, while imaging techniques provide both information on intensity and tissue location of the reporters described above, its quantification is not always accurate or robust. While it is possible to quantify fluorescent activation using imaging analysis tools, these methods are relatively low throughput and sample size is small, due to the relatively low number of animals imaged. The ease and ability to obtain large quantities of animals quickly make C. elegans an ideal model system to assay the activation of fluorescent stress reporters through the use of a large particle flow cytometer. A large-particle flow cytometer is capable of recording, analyzing, and sorting based on size and fluorescence from many live animals. Using this method, it is possible to get the fluorescent intensity, size, and also spatial (2D) information for thousands of worms. The system is controlled using FlowPilot, which allows for real-time data acquisition and analysis of the measured parameters. Here, methods for both microscopic imaging and quantitative analysis using a large-particle flow cytometer are offered as methods to measure the activation of stress responses.
Beyond reporter analysis, the sensitivity or resistance of animals to stress can be measured using physiological stress assays. This is achieved by exposing animals to stressful environments that activate specific cellular stress pathways. Here, several methods are provided to measure sensitivity of whole animals to specific types of stressors.
ER stress is applied to C. elegans by using the chemical agent, tunicamycin, which blocks N-linked glycosylation, causing accumulation of misfolded proteins in the ER10. In C. elegans, growth upon exposure to tunicamycin results in major perturbations in ER function, and a significantly decreased lifespan11. By measuring the survival of animals on tunicamycin-containing plates, ER stress sensitivity of animals can be quantified. For example, animals with ectopic UPRER induction and thus increased resistance to protein misfolding stress in the ER have an increased survival upon tunicamycin exposure compared to wild-type animals12.
Oxidative and mitochondrial stress is applied to C. elegans by exposing animals to the chemical agent, paraquat. Paraquat is a commonly used herbicide, which causes superoxide formation specifically in the mitochondria13. Due to the specific localization of mitochondria-derived reactive oxygen species (ROS), paraquat assays are often used as a &#34;mitochondrial&#34; stress assay. However, superoxide is rapidly converted into hydrogen peroxide by mitochondrial superoxide dismutases (SODs)14. Hydrogen peroxide can subsequently diffuse out of the mitochondria and cause oxidative stress in other compartments of the cell. Therefore, we describe paraquat survival assays as measuring sensitivity to both mitochondrial and oxidative stress (other oxidative stress assays can be found15).
Thermotolerance assays are performed in C. elegans by placing animals in elevated temperatures. Ambient temperatures for nematodes are ~15-20 &#176;C and thermal stress is induced at temperatures above 25 &#176;C16,17. Thermotolerance assays are generally performed at temperatures ranging from 30-37 &#176;C, as animals exhibit major cellular defects at this temperature, and survival assays are completed within 24 hours16,18. Here, two alternative methods are provided for performing thermotolerance assays: growth at 34 &#176;C and growth at 37 &#176;C. Together, the protocols presented here can be utilized to perform large-scale screens when combined with standard gene knock-down using RNA interference or chemical drug libraries.
The protocol can be broken into 4 broad procedures- growth of C. elegans and preparation for imaging (sections 1 and 2), imaging of transcriptional reporters using fluorescent microscopy (sections 3-5), quantitative measurements of reporters using a large-particle flow cytometer (section 6), and physiological assays to measure stress sensitivity in C. elegans (section 7).

<table border="1" fo:keep-together.within-page="1" fo:keep-with-next.within-page="always">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>Antimycin A</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>A8674</td>
			<td>for mitochondrial stress</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Bacto Peptone</td>
			<td>Fisher Scientific</td>
			<td>DF0118072</td>
			<td>for NGM plates</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>BD Difco granulated agar</td>
			<td>VWR</td>
			<td>90000-782</td>
			<td>for NGM plates</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Calcium chloride dihydrate</td>
			<td>VWR</td>
			<td>97061-904</td>
			<td>for NGM plates</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Carbenicillin</td>
			<td>BioPioneer</td>
			<td>C0051-25</td>
			<td>for RNAi</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Cholesterol</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>57-88-5</td>
			<td>for NGM plates</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>COPAS Biosorter</td>
			<td>Union Biometrica</td>
			<td>350-5000-000</td>
			<td>equipped with a 488 nm light source.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>COPAS Cleaning Solution</td>
			<td>Union Biometrica</td>
			<td>300-5072-000</td>
			<td>to use with COPAS</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>COPAS Sheath Solution</td>
			<td>Union Biometrica</td>
			<td>300-5070-100</td>
			<td>to use with COPAS</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>DMSO</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>472301</td>
			<td>solvent for drugs</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>IPTG dioxane free</td>
			<td>Denville Scientific</td>
			<td>CI8280-4</td>
			<td>for RNAi</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>LB Broth Miller</td>
			<td>Fisher Scientific</td>
			<td>BP1426500</td>
			<td>for LB</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>M205FA stereoscope</td>
			<td>Leica</td>
			<td>10450040</td>
			<td>equipped with a Leica DFC3000G monochromatic CCD camera, standard Leica GFP filter (ex 395-455, EM 480 LP), and LAS X software</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Magnesium sulfate heptahydrate</td>
			<td>VWR</td>
			<td>EM-MX0070-3</td>
			<td>for NGM plates, M9</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Paraquat</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>36541</td>
			<td>for oxidative/mitochondrial stress</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Potassium Chloride</td>
			<td>Fisher</td>
			<td>P217-500</td>
			<td>for bleach soluton</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Potassium phosphate dibasic</td>
			<td>VWR</td>
			<td>EM-PX1570-2</td>
			<td>for NGM plates</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Potassium phosphate monobasic</td>
			<td>VWR</td>
			<td>EM-PX1565-5</td>
			<td>for M9</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Revolve</td>
			<td>ECHO</td>
			<td>75990-514</td>
			<td>equipped with an Olympus 4x Plan Fluorite NA 0.13 objective lens, standard Olympus FITC filter (ex 470/40; em 525/50; DM 560), and an iPad Pro for camera and to drive ECHO software</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Sodium Azide</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>71289-50G</td>
			<td>for imaging</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Sodium Chloride</td>
			<td>EMD Millipore</td>
			<td>SX0420-5</td>
			<td>for NGM plates, M9</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Sodium phosphate dibasic</td>
			<td>VWR</td>
			<td>71003-472</td>
			<td>for M9</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Tert-butyl hydroperoxide</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>458139</td>
			<td>for oxidative stress</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Tetracycline hydrochloride</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>T7660-5G</td>
			<td>for RNAi</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Tunicamycin</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>T7765-50MG</td>
			<td>for ER stress</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

measurements of physiological stress responses in c. elegans

Organisms are often exposed to fluctuating environments and changes in intracellular homeostasis, which can have detrimental effects on their proteome and physiology. Thus, organisms have evolved targeted and specific stress responses dedicated to repair damage and maintain homeostasis. These mechanisms include the unfolded protein response of the endoplasmic reticulum (UPRER), the unfolded protein response of the mitochondria (UPRMT), the heat shock response (HSR), and the oxidative stress response (OxSR). The protocols presented here describe methods to detect and characterize the activation of these pathways and their physiological consequences in the nematode, C. elegans. First, the use of pathway-specific fluorescent transcriptional reporters is described for rapid cellular characterization, drug screening, or large-scale genetic screening (e.g., RNAi or mutant libraries). In addition, complementary, robust physiological assays are described, which can be used to directly assess sensitivity of animals to specific stressors, serving as functional validation of the transcriptional reporters. Together, these methods allow for rapid characterization of the cellular and physiological effects of internal and external proteotoxic perturbations.

Using transcriptional reporters to measure activation of stress responses 
Here, fluorescent transcriptional reporters are used, which serve as robust tools to measure activation of most stress responses in C. elegans. GFP expression is driven under the promoter of canonical targets of master transcriptional regulators involved in responding to compartment-specific stresses. A comprehensive list of commonly used transcriptional reporters is available in <str...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Measurements of Physiological Stress Responses in C. Elegans at JoVE.com

Measurements of Physiological Stress Responses in C. Elegans

Here, we characterize cellular proteotoxic stress responses in the nematode C. elegans by measuring the activation of fluorescent transcriptional reporters and assaying sensitivity to physiological stress.

Measurements of Physiological Stress Responses in C. Elegans

Organisms are often exposed to fluctuating environments and changes in intracellular homeostasis, which can have detrimental effects on their proteome and ...

These methods can be used to characterize stress responses in C.elegans and to determine whether genetic or pharmacological perturbations affect the activation of protective cellular pathways. These methods allow rapid and high-throughput testing of hundreds of perturbations such as gene knockdown both on the molecular and physiological levels. To ensure the assay is performed properly, include positive and negative controls.Synchronize healthy, well-fed animals to the proper stage and use fresh plates for the experiment. Visualization of micromanipulation of the worms with a pick can help new users understand how the worms can be lined up and assessed for viability. Demonstrating the procedures will be Phil Frankino, Holly Gildea, and Melissa Metcalf, graduate students in our laboratory.To use animals expressing GFP under the promoter of the heat shock protein four for activation of the endoplasmic reticulum unfolded protein response, grow synchronized reporter animals at 20 degrees Celsius until the L4 stage and wash the worms off the plate using M9 medium and transfer into a tube. After collecting the worms by centrifugation, replace the M9 with 25 nanograms per milliliter of the drug of interest in M9 or dimethyl sulfoxide in M9 in the control animal tubes. Then place the worms on a rotating platform for three to four hours at 20 degrees Celsius.At the end of the incubation, centrifuge the worms to settle before replacing the treatment solution with 15 milliliters of M9 alone. After two washes, transfer the animals to NGM plates or NGM RNA interference plates as appropriate and allow the worms to recover overnight at 20 degrees Celsius. When the worms have recovered, add five to 10 microliters of 100 millimolar sodium azide onto a standard NGM plate without bacteria and place a plate of worms under a dissecting microscope.Transfer 10 to 20 animals from the plate into the spot of sodium azide. The animals should seize movement shortly after landing in the salt solution. Once the sodium azide has evaporated, line up the animals in the desired imaging setup with the anterior and posterior sides in the same orientation for all of the animals and immediately place the plate of animals under a stereo microscope.Launch the stereo microscope imaging software and under the acquisitions tab, click open projects and folder to open a new project. Right-click and select rename to rename the folder. Position the worm sample under the microscope objective and use the Brightfield setting to locate the correct focal point of the worms to minimize fluorescent bleaching.The center of the sample will be the point at which the line of eggs is clearly visible and not fuzzy. Set the exposure time to ensure that pixels are not saturated and also to ensure that the signal is above the detection limit. After setting the exposure time, zoom, focus, and Brightfield condensers to the appropriate settings, click the capture image button to acquire an image.For imaging using a compound wide-field microscope, place the baseline control treatment plate onto the compound wide-field microscope stage and use the touch pad to launch the control program. Create a new album and filename and position the plate under the objective lens. Use the baseline control and positive control plates to set the exposure time and fluorescence intensity so that the signal is visible but not saturated.Then save Brightfield and GFP FITC images. To quantify the induction of the reporter by large particle flow cytometry, first turn on the cytometer lasers and open the cytometer software. Click start to turn on the lasers in the software window and click run to initiate the laser in the argon laser control popup window.When the laser reaches around 12 milliwatts and the 488 light source level goes up to around 12, click done and check the four pressure values. If the values look similar to those observed in the original setup, check the pressure OK box. Next, to make sure there are no air bubbles or debris blocking the flow of sheath and sample through the flow cell, click clean several times.Then switch off sort and on sheath to restart the flow. To check the flow rate, collect the sheath for 60 seconds. Collect the sheath into a 15 milliliter tube for 60 seconds.The flow rate should be nine to 10 milliliters per minute. To run the samples, adjust the laser photomultiplier power to a level high enough that the signal is above the detection limit but not higher than the saturation limit. Perform size gating to exclude bubbles, debris, eggs, and other unwanted small particles and to include only the animals of interest such as adults.When the screening parameters have been set, add the prepared worms to a cup and click acquire. Watch to make sure that all of the liquid is not taken up into the machine as this will cause the flow cytometer to take in air and create bubbles within the detector. When the sample is low and/or enough animals have been collected, click stop.To store gated data based only on the size constraints, click setup, data storage, only gated, and store gated to save the data. Then rinse the collection cup with deionized water and remove the wash by vacuum three times before repeating the analysis with the next sample. To measure the mitochondrial and oxidative stress sensitivity, add 50 to 75 microliters of Paraquat in M9 to eight to 10 wells per condition of a flat bottom 96-well plate and transfer eight to 10 worms per condition to each well of Paraquat.Every two hours, tap the plate gently to cause the live animals to thrash or bend to allow scoring of the number of dead animals per well. To measure the temperature sensitivity of the animals, incubate the worms for three to four days at 20 degrees Celsius before plating 10 to 15 animals per plate per condition for a total of four to six plates. Then place the plates into a 34 or 37 degree Celsius incubator and score the worm survival every two hours as just demonstrated.The hsp-4 reporter has minimal basal impression in the absence of stress but exhibits a robust GFP expression when the animals are exposed to endoplasmic reticulum stress using the drug Tunicamycin. These differences can also be quantified using a large particle flow cytometer. Moreover, the induction of the transgene under endoplasmic reticulum stress can be completely supressed by knockdown of XBP-1 via RNA interference.Similar assays can be performed to measure mitochondrial stress, oxidative stress, and heat stress. Whole animal physiological responses to stress can also be measured using several survival assays. For example, exposure to Tunicamycin is used to measure endoplasmic reticulum stress sensitivity.The knockdown of the XBP-1 gene results in a significant increase in sensitivity to Tunicamycin. Moreover, exposure to the chemical agent Paraquat is used to measure oxidative and mitochondrial stress sensitivity. Knockdown of the DAF-2 gene results in a significant increase in resistance to Paraquat.Thermotolerance can be measured by determining the survival of animals at elevated temperatures and can be plotted as a survival curve. These assays should be performed at least four to six times and all of the replicates should be plotted against each other as thermotolerance demonstrates an incredibly high variability as compared to other stress assays. When imaging animals, it is critical to set the parameters such that there is no over or under saturation of signal and to ensure that the same parameters are used throughout the experiment.The imaging protocols described here are amenable for large scale screening including genome-wide screens and are great for both exploratory and confirmatory studies which can then be followed up by the physiological assays described.

measurements-of-physiological-stress-responses-in-c-elegans

Research

JoVE Journal

Biology

Generation of Stable Transgenic C. elegans Using Microinjection

Transgenic Caenorhabditis elegans can be readily created via microinjection of a DNA plasmid solution into the gonad 1. The plasmid DNA rearranges to form extrachromosomal concatamers that are stably inherited, though not with the same efficiency as actual chromosomes 2. A gene of interest is co-injected with an obvious phenotypic marker, such as rol-6 or GFP, to allow selection of transgenic animals under a dissecting microscope. The exogenous gene may be expressed from its native promoter for cellular localization studies. Alternatively, the transgene can be driven by a different tissue-specific promoter to assess the role of the gene product in that particular cell or tissue. This technique efficiently drives gene expression in all tissues of C. elegans except for the germline or early embryo 3. Creation of transgenic animals is widely utilized for a range of experimental paradigms. This video demonstrates the microinjection procedure to generate transgenic worms. Furthermore, selection and maintenance of stable transgenic C. elegans lines is described.

This video demonstrates the technique of microinjection into the gonad of C. elegans to create transgenic animals.

Transgenic Caenorhabditis elegans can be readily created via microinjection of a DNA plasmid solution into the gonad 1.  The plasmid DNA rearranges to ...

Monitoring Plant Hormones During Stress Responses

Plant hormones and related signaling compounds play an important role in the regulation of plant responses to various environmental stimuli and stresses. Among the most severe stresses are insect herbivory, pathogen infection, and drought stress. For each of these stresses a specific set of hormones and/or combinations thereof are known to fine-tune the responses, thereby ensuring the plant's survival. The major hormones involved in the regulation of these responses are jasmonic acid (JA), salicylic acid (SA), and abscisic acid (ABA). To better understand the role of individual hormones as well as their potential interaction during these responses it is necessary to monitor changes in their abundance in a temporal as well as in a spatial fashion. For the easy, sensitive, and reproducible quantification of these and other signaling compounds we developed a method based on vapor phase extraction and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis (1, 2, 3, 4). After extracting these compounds from the plant tissue by acidic aqueous 1-propanol mixed with dichloromethane the carboxylic acid-containing compounds are methylated, volatilized under heat, and collected on a polymeric absorbent. After elution into a sample vial the analytes are separated by gas chromatography and detected by chemical ionization mass spectrometry. The use of appropriate internal standards then allows for the simple quantification by relating the peak areas of analyte and internal standard.

A simple method is provided that allows for the rapid extraction and analysis of multiple plant hormones from small tissue samples. The procedure uses vapor phase extraction as the solemn purification step. Samples are analyzed by GC/MS with chemical ionization that produces mainly (M+1)+ ions.

Plant hormones and related signaling compounds play an important role in the regulation of plant responses to various environmental stimuli and stresses. ...

RNAi Screening to Identify Postembryonic Phenotypes in C. elegans

C. elegans has proven to be a valuable model system for the discovery and functional characterization of many genes and gene pathways1. More sophisticated tools and resources for studies in this system are facilitating continued discovery of genes with more subtle phenotypes or roles. 
Here we present a generalized protocol we adapted for identifying C. elegans genes with postembryonic phenotypes of interest using RNAi2. This procedure is easily modified to assay the phenotype of choice, whether by light or fluorescence optics on a dissecting or compound microscope. This screening protocol capitalizes on the physical assets of the organism and molecular tools the C. elegans research community has produced. As an example, we demonstrate the use of an integrated transgene that expresses a fluorescent product in an RNAi screen to identify genes required for the normal localization of this product in late stage larvae and adults. First, we used a commercially available genomic RNAi library with full-length cDNA inserts. This library facilitates the rapid identification of multiple candidates by RNAi reduction of the candidate gene product. Second, we generated an integrated transgene that expresses our fluorecently tagged protein of interest in an RNAi-sensitive background. Third, by exposing hatched animals to RNAi, this screen permits identification of gene products that have a vital embryonic role that would otherwise mask a post-embryonic role in regulating the protein of interest. Lastly, this screen uses a compound microscope equipped for single cell resolution.

RNAi Screening to Identify Postembryonic Phenotypes in C. elegans

We describe a sensitized method to identify postembryonic regulators of protein expression and localization in C. elegans using an RNAi-based genomic screen and an integrated transgene that expresses a functional, fluorescently tagged protein.

C. elegans has proven to be a valuable model system for the discovery and functional characterization of many genes and gene pathways1. More sophisticated ...

Linking Predation Risk, Herbivore Physiological Stress and Microbial Decomposition of Plant Litter

The quantity and quality of detritus entering the soil determines the rate of decomposition by microbial communities as well as recycle rates of nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) sequestration1,2. Plant litter comprises the majority of detritus3, and so it is assumed that decomposition is only marginally influenced by biomass inputs from animals such as herbivores and carnivores4,5. However, carnivores may influence microbial decomposition of plant litter via a chain of interactions in which predation risk alters the physiology of their herbivore prey that in turn alters soil microbial functioning when the herbivore carcasses are decomposed6. A physiological stress response by herbivores to the risk of predation can change the C:N elemental composition of herbivore biomass7,8,9 because stress from predation risk increases herbivore basal energy demands that in nutrient-limited systems forces herbivores to shift their consumption from N-rich resources to support growth and reproduction to C-rich carbohydrate resources to support heightened metabolism6. Herbivores have limited ability to store excess nutrients, so stressed herbivores excrete N as they increase carbohydrate-C consumption7. Ultimately, prey stressed by predation risk increase their body C:N ratio7,10, making them poorer quality resources for the soil microbial pool likely due to lower availability of labile N for microbial enzyme production6. Thus, decomposition of carcasses of stressed herbivores has a priming effect on the functioning of microbial communities that decreases subsequent ability to of microbes to decompose plant litter6,10,11.
We present the methodology to evaluate linkages between predation risk and litter decomposition by soil microbes. We describe how to: induce stress in herbivores from predation risk; measure those stress responses, and measure the consequences on microbial decomposition. We use insights from a model grassland ecosystem comprising the hunting spider predator (Pisuarina mira), a dominant grasshopper herbivore (Melanoplus femurrubrum),and a variety of grass and forb plants9.

We present methods to evaluate how predation risk can alter the chemical quality of herbivore prey by inducing dietary changes to meet demands of heightened stress, and how the decomposition of carcasses from these stressed herbivores slows subsequent plant litter decomposition by soil microbes.

The quantity and quality of detritus entering the soil  determines the rate of decomposition by microbial communities as well as  recycle rates of ...

C. elegans Chemotaxis Assay

Many organisms use chemotaxis to seek out food sources, avoid noxious substances, and find mates. Caenorhabditis elegans has impressive chemotaxis behavior.
 The premise behind testing the response of the worms to an odorant is to place them in an area and observe the movement evoked in response to an odorant. Even with the many available assays, optimizing worm starting location relative to both the control and test areas, while minimizing the interaction of worms with each other, while maintaining a significant sample size remains a work in progress 1-10. The method described here aims to address these issues by modifying the assay developed by Bargmann et al.1. A Petri dish is divided into four quadrants, two opposite quadrants marked "Test" and two are designated "Control". Anesthetic is placed in all test and control sites. The worms are placed in the center of the plate with a circle marked around the origin to ensure that non-motile worms will be ignored. Utilizing a four-quadrant system rather than one 2 or two 1 eliminates bias in the movement of the worms, as they are equidistant from test and control samples, regardless of which side of the origin they began. This circumvents the problem of worms being forced to travel through a cluster of other worms to respond to an odorant, which can delay worms or force them to take a more circuitous route, yielding an incorrect interpretation of their intended path. This method also shows practical advantages by having a larger sample size and allowing the researcher to run the assay unattended and score the worms once the allotted time has expired.

C. elegans Chemotaxis Assay

A method of quantitatively evaluating the chemotactic response of Caenorhabditis elegans is described. A chemotactic index (CI) was employed as a way to precisely evaluate the response of worms to certain targets, and serve as a platform of comparison between strains and compounds of interest.

Many organisms use chemotaxis to seek out food sources, avoid noxious substances, and find mates.  Caenorhabditis elegans has impressive chemotaxis ...

Antibody Staining in C. Elegans Using &quot;Freeze-Cracking&quot;

To stain C. elegans with antibodies, the relatively impermeable cuticle must be bypassed by chemical or mechanical methods. "Freeze-cracking" is one method used to physically pull the cuticle from nematodes by compressing nematodes between two adherent slides, freezing them, and pulling the slides apart. Freeze-cracking provides a simple and rapid way to gain access to the tissues without chemical treatment and can be used with a variety of fixatives. However, it leads to the loss of many of the specimens and the required compression mechanically distorts the sample. Practice is required to maximize recovery of samples with good morphology. Freeze-cracking can be optimized for specific fixation conditions, recovery of samples, or low non-specific staining, but not for all parameters at once. For antibodies that require very hard fixation conditions and tolerate the chemical treatments needed to chemically permeabilize the cuticle, treatment of intact nematodes in solution may be preferred. If the antibody requires a lighter fix or if the optimum fixation conditions are unknown, freeze-cracking provides a very useful way to rapidly assay the antibody and can yield specific subcellular and cellular localization information for the antigen of interest.

Antibody Staining in C. Elegans Using "Freeze-Cracking"

"Freeze-cracking," a method for exposing the inner tissues of the nematode C. elegans to antibodies for protein localization, is demonstrated.

To stain C.  elegans with antibodies, the relatively impermeable cuticle must be  bypassed by chemical or mechanical methods.  "Freeze-cracking" is one ...

An Anoxia-starvation Model for Ischemia/Reperfusion in C. elegans

Protocols for anoxia/starvation in the genetic model organism C. elegans simulate ischemia/reperfusion. Worms are separated from bacterial food and placed under anoxia for 20 hr&#160;(simulated ischemia), and subsequently moved to a normal atmosphere with food (simulated reperfusion). This experimental paradigm results in increased death and neuronal damage, and techniques are presented to assess organism viability, alterations to the morphology of touch neuron processes, as well as touch sensitivity, which represents the behavioral output of neuronal function. Finally, a method for constructing hypoxic incubators using common kitchen storage containers is described. The addition of a mass flow control unit allows for alterations to be made to the gas mixture in the custom incubators, and a circulating water bath allows for both temperature control and makes it easy to identify leaks. This method provides a low cost alternative to commercially available units.

An Anoxia-starvation Model for Ischemia/Reperfusion in C. elegans

A protocol is described that uses anoxia/starvation in C. elegans to model ischemia/reperfusion. Functional outcomes include increased mortality, visible abnormalities in GFP-labeled neuronal processes, and impaired behavioral responses that require neuronal function.

Protocols for anoxia/starvation in the genetic model organism C. elegans simulate ischemia/reperfusion. Worms are separated from bacterial food and placed ...

Methods for Skin Wounding and Assays for Wound Responses in C. elegans

The C. elegans epidermis and cuticle form a simple yet sophisticated skin layer that can repair localized damage resulting from wounding. Studies of wound responses and repair in this model have illuminated our understanding of the cytoskeletal and genomic responses to tissue damage. The two most commonly used methods to wound the C. elegans adult skin are pricks with microinjection needles, and local laser irradiation. Needle wounding locally disrupts the cuticle, epidermis, and associated extracellular matrix, and may also damage internal tissues. Laser irradiation results in more localized damage. Wounding triggers a succession of readily assayed responses including elevated epidermal Ca2+ (seconds-minutes), formation and closure of an actin-containing ring at the wound site (1-2 hr), elevated transcription of antimicrobial peptide genes (2-24 hr), and scar formation. Essentially all wild type adult animals survive wounding, whereas mutants defective in wound repair or other responses show decreased survival. Detailed protocols for needle and laser wounding, and assays for quantitation and visualization of wound responses and repair processes (Ca dynamics, actin dynamics, antimicrobial peptide induction, and survival) are presented.

Methods for Skin Wounding and Assays for Wound Responses in C. elegans

The adult C. elegans skin is a tractable model for studies of epithelial wound responses, including wound closure, scar formation, and innate immunity.

The C. elegans epidermis and cuticle form a simple yet sophisticated skin layer that can repair localized damage resulting from wounding. Studies of wound ...

Methods to Assess Subcellular Compartments of Muscle in C. elegans

Muscle is a dynamic tissue that responds to changes in nutrition, exercise, and disease state. The loss of muscle mass and function with disease and age are significant public health burdens. We currently understand little about the genetic regulation of muscle health with disease or age. The nematode C. elegans is an established model for understanding the genomic regulation of biological processes of interest. This worm&#8217;s body wall muscles display a large degree of homology with the muscles of higher metazoan species. Since C. elegans is a transparent organism, the localization of GFP to mitochondria and sarcomeres allows visualization of these structures in vivo. Similarly, feeding animals cationic dyes, which accumulate based on the existence of a mitochondrial membrane potential, allows the assessment of mitochondrial function in vivo. These methods, as well as assessment of muscle protein homeostasis, are combined with assessment of whole animal muscle function, in the form of movement assays, to allow correlation of sub-cellular defects with functional measures of muscle performance. Thus, C. elegans provides a powerful platform with which to assess the impact of mutations, gene knockdown, and/or chemical compounds upon muscle structure and function. Lastly, as GFP, cationic dyes, and movement assays are assessed non-invasively, prospective studies of muscle structure and function can be conducted across the whole life course and this at present cannot be easily investigated in vivo in any other organism.

Methods to Assess Subcellular Compartments of Muscle in C. elegans

Skeletal muscle is essential for locomotion and is the bodies&#8217; main protein store. Muscle health measurements within C. elegans are described. Prospective changes to muscle structure and function are assessed using localized GFP and cationic dyes.

Muscle is a dynamic tissue that responds to changes in nutrition, exercise, and disease state. The loss of muscle mass and function with disease and age ...

The c-FOS Protein Immunohistological Detection: A Useful Tool As a Marker of Central Pathways Involved in Specific Physiological Responses In Vivo and Ex Vivo

Many studies seek to identify and map the brain regions involved in specific physiological regulations. The proto-oncogene c-fos, an immediate early gene, is expressed in neurons in response to various stimuli. The protein product can be readily detected with immunohistochemical techniques leading to the use of c-FOS detection to map groups of neurons that display changes in their activity. In this article, we focused on the identification of brainstem neuronal populations involved in the ventilatory adaptation to hypoxia or hypercapnia. Two approaches were described to identify involved neuronal populations in vivo in animals and ex vivo in deafferented brainstem preparations. In vivo, animals were exposed to hypercapnic or hypoxic gas mixtures. Ex vivo, deafferented preparations were superfused with hypoxic or hypercapnic artificial cerebrospinal fluid. In both cases, either control in vivo animals or ex vivo preparations were maintained under normoxic and normocapnic conditions. The comparison of these two approaches allows the determination of the origin of the neuronal activation i.e., peripheral and/or central. In vivo and ex vivo, brainstems were collected, fixed, and sliced into sections. Once sections were prepared, immunohistochemical detection of the c-FOS protein was made in order to identify the brainstem groups of cells activated by hypoxic or hypercapnic stimulations. Labeled cells were counted in brainstem respiratory structures. In comparison to the control condition, hypoxia or hypercapnia increased the number of c-FOS labeled cells in several specific brainstem sites that are thus constitutive of the neuronal pathways involved in the adaptation of the central respiratory drive.

The c-FOS Protein Immunohistological Detection: A Useful Tool As a Marker of Central Pathways Involved in Specific Physiological Responses In Vivo and Ex Vivo

Here, we present a protocol based on c-FOS protein immunohistological detection, a classical technique used for the identification of neuronal populations involved in specific physiological responses in vivo and ex vivo.

Many studies seek to identify and map the brain regions involved in specific physiological regulations. The proto-oncogene c-fos, an immediate early gene, ...