Stable Isotope Labeling with Amino acids in Nematodes

We describe an approach for the accurate quantitation of global protein dynamics in Caenorhabditis elegans. We adapted Stable Isotope Labeling with Amino acids in Cell culture (SILAC) for nematodes, by feeding worms a heavy lysine- and arginine-labeled E. coli strain. We also report a genetic solution to remove the arginine-to-proline conversion problem. Combining our approach with quantitative proteomics methods, we characterized the heatshock response in worms.