Chemosensory Cell Function in the Behavior and Development of Caenorhabditis elegans

CHR3 is a Caenorhabditis elegans orphan nuclear hormone receptor highly homologous to Drosophila DHR3, an ecdysone-inducible gene product involved in metamorphosis. Related vertebrate factors include RORalpha/RZRalpha, RZRbeta and RevErb. Gel-shift studies show that CHR3 can bind the DR5-type hormone response sequence. CHR3 is a nuclear protein present in all blastomeres during early embryogenesis. During morphogenesis, both CHR3 protein and zygotically active reporter genes are detectable in epidermal cells and their precursors. Inhibition of the gene encoding CHR3 results in several larval defects associated with abnormal epidermal cell function, including molting and body size regulation, suggesting that CHR3 is an essential epidermal factor required for proper postembryonic development.

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Suppressors of glp-1, a gene required for cell communication during development in Caenorhabditis elegans, define a set of interacting genes.

Genetics ◽

10.1093/genetics/135.4.1011 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 135 (4) ◽

pp. 1011-1022 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

E M Maine ◽

J Kimble

Keyword(s):

Caenorhabditis Elegans ◽

Cell Fate ◽

Cell Function ◽

Germ Line ◽

Control Cell ◽

Cell Communication ◽

Cell Interactions ◽

Temperature Sensitive ◽

Allele Specific ◽

Mitotic Proliferation

Abstract The glp-1 gene is essential for two cell interactions that control cell fate in Caenorhabditis elegans: induction of anterior pharynx in the embryo and induction of mitotic proliferation in the germ line. To identify other genes involved in these cell interactions, we have isolated suppressors of two temperature sensitive alleles of glp-1. Each of 14 recessive suppressors rescues both embryonic and germline glp-1(ts) defects. These suppressors are extragenic and define a set of six genes designated sog, for suppressor of glp-1. Suppression of glp-1 is the only obvious phenotype associated with sog mutations. Mutations in different sog genes show allele-specific intergenic noncomplementation, suggesting that the sog gene products may interact. In addition, we have analyzed a semidominant mutation that suppresses only the glp-1 germline phenotype and has a conditional feminized phenotype of its own. None of the suppressors rescues a glp-1 null mutation and therefore they do not bypass a requirement for glp-1. Distal tip cell function remains necessary for germline proliferation in suppressed animals. These suppressor mutations identify genes that may encode other components of the glp-1 mediated cell-signaling pathway or regulate glp-1 expression.

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Review for "The connectome of the Caenorhabditis elegans pharynx"

10.1002/cne.24932/v1/review1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Sreekanth Chalasani

Keyword(s):

Caenorhabditis Elegans

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Freeze-substitution of rye grass and ragweed pollen grains

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100160984 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 48 (3) ◽

pp. 686-687

Author(s):

Liza B. Martinez ◽

Susan M. Wick

Keyword(s):

Cell Function ◽

Pollen Grains ◽

Freeze Substitution ◽

Cell Types ◽

Rapid Freezing ◽

Rye Grass ◽

Acrylic Resins ◽

Allergenic Proteins ◽

Cold Embedding ◽

Structural Preservation

Rapid freezing and freeze-substitution have been employed as alternatives to chemical fixation because of the improved structural preservation obtained in various cell types. This has been attributed to biomolecular immobilization derived from the extremely rapid arrest of cell function. These methods allow the elimination of conventionally used fixatives, which may have denaturing or “masking” effects on proteins. Thus, this makes them ideal techniques for immunocytochemistry, in which preservation of both ultrastructure and antigenicity are important. These procedures are also compatible with cold embedding acrylic resins which are known to increase sensitivity in immunolabelling.This study reveals how rapid freezing and freeze-substitution may prove to be useful in the study of the mobile allergenic proteins of rye grass and ragweed. Most studies have relied on the use of osmium tetroxide to achieve the necessary ultrastructural detail in pollen whereas those that omitted it have had to contend with poor overall preservation.

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Confocal imaging of calcium in intact ventricular muscle provides a new view of excitation-contraction coupling

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100166154 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 54 ◽

pp. 738-739

Author(s):

W.G. Wier

Keyword(s):

Local Control ◽

Cardiac Tissue ◽

Cell Function ◽

Isolated Heart ◽

Cardiac Cells ◽

Confocal Imaging ◽

Ion Concentration ◽

Heart Cell ◽

Free Calcium ◽

Heart Cells

A fundamentally new understanding of cardiac excitation-contraction (E-C) coupling is being developed from recent experimental work using confocal microscopy of single isolated heart cells. In particular, the transient change in intracellular free calcium ion concentration ([Ca2+]i transient) that activates muscle contraction is now viewed as resulting from the spatial and temporal summation of small (∼ 8 μm3), subcellular, stereotyped ‘local [Ca2+]i-transients' or, as they have been called, ‘calcium sparks'. This new understanding may be called ‘local control of E-C coupling'. The relevance to normal heart cell function of ‘local control, theory and the recent confocal data on spontaneous Ca2+ ‘sparks', and on electrically evoked local [Ca2+]i-transients has been unknown however, because the previous studies were all conducted on slack, internally perfused, single, enzymatically dissociated cardiac cells, at room temperature, usually with Cs+ replacing K+, and often in the presence of Ca2-channel blockers. The present work was undertaken to establish whether or not the concepts derived from these studies are in fact relevant to normal cardiac tissue under physiological conditions, by attempting to record local [Ca2+]i-transients, sparks (and Ca2+ waves) in intact, multi-cellular cardiac tissue.

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The glycomes of Caenorhabditis elegans and other model organisms

Biochemical Society Symposium ◽

10.1042/bss0690117 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 69 ◽

pp. 117-134 ◽

Cited By ~ 47

Author(s):

Stuart M. Haslam ◽

David Gems ◽

Howard R. Morris ◽

Anne Dell

Keyword(s):

Caenorhabditis Elegans ◽

Current Knowledge ◽

Structural Data ◽

Model Organisms ◽

Entire Genome ◽

C Elegans ◽

The Face ◽

Area Of Concern ◽

Nematode Worm

There is no doubt that the immense amount of information that is being generated by the initial sequencing and secondary interrogation of various genomes will change the face of glycobiological research. However, a major area of concern is that detailed structural knowledge of the ultimate products of genes that are identified as being involved in glycoconjugate biosynthesis is still limited. This is illustrated clearly by the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans, which was the first multicellular organism to have its entire genome sequenced. To date, only limited structural data on the glycosylated molecules of this organism have been reported. Our laboratory is addressing this problem by performing detailed MS structural characterization of the N-linked glycans of C. elegans; high-mannose structures dominate, with only minor amounts of complex-type structures. Novel, highly fucosylated truncated structures are also present which are difucosylated on the proximal N-acetylglucosamine of the chitobiose core as well as containing unusual Fucα1–2Gal1–2Man as peripheral structures. The implications of these results in terms of the identification of ligands for genomically predicted lectins and potential glycosyltransferases are discussed in this chapter. Current knowledge on the glycomes of other model organisms such as Dictyostelium discoideum, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Drosophila melanogaster is also discussed briefly.

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Adipokines as key players in β cell function and failure

Clinical Science ◽

10.1042/cs20190523 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 133 (22) ◽

pp. 2317-2327 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Nicolás Gómez-Banoy ◽

James C. Lo

Keyword(s):

Metabolic Diseases ◽

Cell Function ◽

Whole Body ◽

Pancreatic Β Cell ◽

Β Cell ◽

Cell Axis ◽

Β Cell Function ◽

Prevalence Of Obesity ◽

Specific Factors ◽

Whole Body Metabolism

Abstract The growing prevalence of obesity and its related metabolic diseases, mainly Type 2 diabetes (T2D), has increased the interest in adipose tissue (AT) and its role as a principal metabolic orchestrator. Two decades of research have now shown that ATs act as an endocrine organ, secreting soluble factors termed adipocytokines or adipokines. These adipokines play crucial roles in whole-body metabolism with different mechanisms of action largely dependent on the tissue or cell type they are acting on. The pancreatic β cell, a key regulator of glucose metabolism due to its ability to produce and secrete insulin, has been identified as a target for several adipokines. This review will focus on how adipokines affect pancreatic β cell function and their impact on pancreatic β cell survival in disease contexts such as diabetes. Initially, the “classic” adipokines will be discussed, followed by novel secreted adipocyte-specific factors that show therapeutic promise in regulating the adipose–pancreatic β cell axis.

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