scholarly journals Compensatory growth in C. elegans is regulated by a thermosensitive TRP channel and increases reproductive fitness

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zuzana Sekajova ◽  
Elena Rosa ◽  
Foteini Spagopoulou ◽  
Panagiotis-Ioannis Zervakis ◽  
Martin I. Lind
Keyword(s):  
Compensatory Growth ◽  
Genetic Regulation ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
Individual Fitness ◽  
Fitness Consequences ◽  
Knockout Mutants ◽  
Speed Up ◽  
Response To Temperature ◽  
Trp Ion Channel ◽  
Sensitive Individual

AbstractAnimals are often not growing at the maximum rate, but can compensate for a bad start of life by further increasing growth rate. While this compensatory growth is widespread, its direct fitness consequences are seldom investigated and its genetic basis is unknown. We investigated the genetic regulation, as well as fitness and lifespan consequences of compensatory growth in response to temperature, using C. elegans knockout of the thermo-sensitive TRP ion channel TRPA-1, involved in temperature recognition. We exposed juvenile worms to cold, normal or warm temperatures in order to delay or speed up development. After returning to normal temperature, we found that wild-type worms where early development was delayed, expressed compensatory growth and catched up in size, while juvenile exposure to warm temperatures expressed slowed-down growth and small size. Compensatory growth also altered the reproductive schedule towards early reproduction, so that rate-sensitive individual fitness increased even though total reproduction was unaffected. Surprisingly, no lifespan cost of compensatory growth was found. In contrast, juvenile temperature did not induce compensatory or slowed-down growth in the trpa-1 knockout mutants, and consequently did not affect fitness. We show that temperature-induced compensatory growth in C. elegans is regulated by the trpa-1 and can increase fitness.

scholarly journals The secreted endoribonuclease ENDU-2 from the soma protects germline immortality in C. elegans

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenjing Qi ◽  
Erika D. V. Gromoff ◽  
Fan Xu ◽  
Qian Zhao ◽  
Wei Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Stem Cell ◽  
Small Rnas ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
Cleavage Activity ◽  
Response To Temperature ◽  
Multicellular Organisms ◽  
Cell Immortality ◽  
Mature Mrnas ◽  
Endoribonuclease Activity

AbstractMulticellular organisms coordinate tissue specific responses to environmental information via both cell-autonomous and non-autonomous mechanisms. In addition to secreted ligands, recent reports implicated release of small RNAs in regulating gene expression across tissue boundaries. Here, we show that the conserved poly-U specific endoribonuclease ENDU-2 in C. elegans is secreted from the soma and taken-up by the germline to ensure germline immortality at elevated temperature. ENDU-2 binds to mature mRNAs and negatively regulates mRNA abundance both in the soma and the germline. While ENDU-2 promotes RNA decay in the soma directly via its endoribonuclease activity, ENDU-2 prevents misexpression of soma-specific genes in the germline and preserves germline immortality independent of its RNA-cleavage activity. In summary, our results suggest that the secreted RNase ENDU-2 regulates gene expression across tissue boundaries in response to temperature alterations and contributes to maintenance of stem cell immortality, probably via retaining a stem cell specific program of gene expression.

scholarly journals Systematic evaluation of C. elegans lincRNAs with CRISPR knockout mutants

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuai Wei ◽  
He Chen ◽  
Emmanuel Enoch Dzakah ◽  
Bin Yu ◽  
Xiaolin Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Evaluation ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
Knockout Mutants

scholarly journals Early and adult social environments have independent effects on individual fitness in a social vertebrate

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1813) ◽  
pp. 20151167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vérane Berger ◽  
Jean-François Lemaître ◽  
Dominique Allainé ◽  
Jean-Michel Gaillard ◽  
Aurélie Cohas
Keyword(s):  
Social Environment ◽  
Lifetime Reproductive Success ◽  
Social Environments ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Delayed Effects ◽  
Individual Fitness ◽  
Fitness Consequences ◽  
Dominant Female ◽  
The Social ◽  
Independent Effects

Evidence that the social environment at critical stages of life-history shapes individual trajectories is accumulating. Previous studies have identified either current or delayed effects of social environments on fitness components, but no study has yet analysed fitness consequences of social environments at different life stages simultaneously. To fill the gap, we use an extensive dataset collected during a 24-year intensive monitoring of a population of Alpine marmots ( Marmota marmota ), a long-lived social rodent. We test whether the number of helpers in early life and over the dominance tenure length has an impact on litter size at weaning, juvenile survival, longevity and lifetime reproductive success (LRS) of dominant females. Dominant females, who were born into a group containing many helpers and experiencing a high number of accumulated helpers over dominance tenure length showed an increased LRS through an increased longevity. We provide evidence that in a wild vertebrate, both early and adult social environments influence individual fitness, acting additionally and independently. These findings demonstrate that helpers have both short- and long-term effects on dominant female Alpine marmots and that the social environment at the time of birth can play a key role in shaping individual fitness in social vertebrates.

scholarly journals Genetic Regulation of Unsaturated Fatty Acid Composition in C. elegans

PLoS Genetics ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (7) ◽  
pp. e108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trisha J Brock ◽  
John Browse ◽  
Jennifer L Watts
Keyword(s):  
Fatty Acid Composition ◽  
Fatty Acid ◽  
Acid Composition ◽  
Unsaturated Fatty Acid ◽  
Genetic Regulation ◽  
C Elegans

scholarly journals Oxygen-induced social behaviours in Pristionchus pacificus have a distinct evolutionary history and genetic regulation from Caenorhabditis elegans

2016 ◽  
Vol 283 (1825) ◽  
pp. 20152263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eduardo Moreno ◽  
Angela McGaughran ◽  
Christian Rödelsperger ◽  
Manuel Zimmer ◽  
Ralf J. Sommer
Keyword(s):  
Caenorhabditis Elegans ◽  
High Altitude ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Genetic Regulation ◽  
Nematode Species ◽  
Pristionchus Pacificus ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
Oxygen Conditions ◽  
La Réunion Island ◽  
Social Behaviours

Wild isolates of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans perform social behaviours, namely clumping and bordering, to avoid hyperoxia under laboratory conditions. In contrast, the laboratory reference strain N2 has acquired a solitary behaviour in the laboratory, related to a gain-of-function variant in the neuropeptide Y-like receptor NPR-1. Here, we study the evolution and natural variation of clumping and bordering behaviours in Pristionchus pacificus nematodes in a natural context, using strains collected from 22 to 2400 metres above sea level on La Réunion Island. Through the analysis of 106 wild isolates, we show that the majority of strains display a solitary behaviour similar to C. elegans N2, whereas social behaviours are predominantly seen in strains that inhabit high-altitude locations. We show experimentally that P. pacificus social strains perform clumping and bordering to avoid hyperoxic conditions in the laboratory, suggesting that social strains may have adapted to or evolved a preference for the lower relative oxygen levels available at high altitude in nature. In contrast to C. elegans , clumping and bordering in P. pacificus do not correlate with locomotive behaviours in response to changes in oxygen conditions. Furthermore, QTL analysis indicates clumping and bordering to represent complex quantitative traits. Thus, clumping and bordering behaviours represent an example of phenotypic convergence with a different evolutionary history and distinct genetic control in both nematode species.

scholarly journals The Tactile Receptive Fields of Freely Moving Caenorhabditis elegans Nematodes

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. A. Mazzochette ◽  
A. L. Nekimken ◽  
F. Loizeau ◽  
J. Whitworth ◽  
B. Huynh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Caenorhabditis Elegans ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Behavioral Responses ◽  
The Body ◽  
Stimulus Strength ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
Speed Up ◽  
Touch Sensation ◽  
Freely Moving

AbstractSensory neurons embedded in skin are responsible for the sense of touch. In humans and other mammals, touch sensation depends on thousands of diverse somatosensory neurons. By contrast, Caenorhabditis elegans nematodes have six gentle touch receptor neurons linked to simple behaviors. The classical touch assay uses an eyebrow hair to stimulate freely moving C. elegans, evoking evasive behavioral responses. While this assay has led to the discovery of genes required for touch sensation, it does not provide control over stimulus strength or position. Here, we present an integrated system for performing automated, quantitative touch assays that circumvents these limitations and incorporates automated measurements of behavioral responses. Highly Automated Worm Kicker (HAWK) unites microfabricated silicon force sensors and video analysis with real-time force and position control. Using this system, we stimulated animals along the anterior-posterior axis and compared responses in wild-type and spc-1(dn) transgenic animals, which have a touch defect due to expression of a dominant-negative α spectrin protein fragment. As expected from prior studies, delivering large stimuli anterior to the mid-point of the body evoked a reversal, but such a stimulus applied posterior to the mid-point evoked a speed-up. The probability of evoking a response of either kind depended on stimulus strength and location; once initiated, the magnitude and quality of both reversal and speed-up behavioral responses were uncorrelated with stimulus location, strength, or the absence or presence of the spc-1(dn) transgene. Wild-type animals failed to respond when the stimulus was applied near the mid-point. These results establish that stimulus strength and location govern the activation of a stereotyped motor program and that the C. elegans body surface consists of two receptive fields separated by a gap.

scholarly journals Genetic Regulation of Unsaturated Fatty Acid Composition in C. elegans

PLoS Genetics ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol preprint (2006) ◽  
pp. e108
Author(s):  
Trisha J. Brock ◽  
John Browse ◽  
Jennifer L. Watts
Keyword(s):  
Fatty Acid Composition ◽  
Fatty Acid ◽  
Acid Composition ◽  
Unsaturated Fatty Acid ◽  
Genetic Regulation ◽  
C Elegans

scholarly journals Fitness consequences of environmental conditions at different life stages in a long-lived vertebrate

2014 ◽  
Vol 281 (1785) ◽  
pp. 20140276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathieu Douhard ◽  
Floriane Plard ◽  
Jean-Michel Gaillard ◽  
Gilles Capron ◽  
Daniel Delorme ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Roe Deer ◽  
Developmental Trajectory ◽  
Evolutionary Medicine ◽  
Individual Fitness ◽  
Resource Limited ◽  
Fitness Consequences ◽  
Predictive Adaptive Response ◽  
Using Data

The predictive adaptive response (PAR) hypothesis proposes that animals adjust their physiology and developmental trajectory during early life in anticipation of their future environments. Accordingly, when environmental conditions in early life match environmental conditions during adulthood, individual fitness should be greater. Here, we test this hypothesis in a long-lived mammal, the roe deer, using data from two contrasting populations, intensively monitored for more than 35 years. In the highly productive site, the fitness of female roe deer increased with the quality of environment during adulthood and, contrary to predictions of PAR, individuals born in good conditions always outperformed those born under poor conditions. In the resource-limited site, the fitness of female roe deer born in poor years was better than those born in good conditions in poor years when the animals were adult, but not in good years. Although consistent with predictions of PAR, we showed that this pattern is likely to be a consequence of increased viability selection during the juvenile stage for animals born in poor years. While PARs are often advanced in evolutionary medicine, our findings suggest that detailed biological processes should be investigated before drawing conclusions about the existence of this phenomenon.

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