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Shifts in the Distribution of Mass Densities Is a Signature of Caloric Restriction in Caenorhabditis elegans

Although the starvation response of the model multicellular organism Caenorhabditis elegans is a subject of much research, there is no convenient phenotypic readout of caloric restriction that can be applicable to large numbers of worms. This paper describes the distribution of mass densities of pop...

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Autores principales: Reina, Alfonso, Subramaniam, Anand Bala, Laromaine, Anna, Samuel, Aravinthan D. T., Whitesides, George M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3726776/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23922767
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0069651
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author Reina, Alfonso
Subramaniam, Anand Bala
Laromaine, Anna
Samuel, Aravinthan D. T.
Whitesides, George M.
author_facet Reina, Alfonso
Subramaniam, Anand Bala
Laromaine, Anna
Samuel, Aravinthan D. T.
Whitesides, George M.
author_sort Reina, Alfonso
collection PubMed
description Although the starvation response of the model multicellular organism Caenorhabditis elegans is a subject of much research, there is no convenient phenotypic readout of caloric restriction that can be applicable to large numbers of worms. This paper describes the distribution of mass densities of populations of C. elegans, from larval stages up to day one of adulthood, using isopycnic centrifugation, and finds that density is a convenient, if complex, phenotypic readout in C. elegans. The density of worms in synchronized populations of wildtype N2 C. elegans grown under standard solid-phase culture conditions was normally distributed, with distributions peaked sharply at a mean of 1.091 g/cm(3) for L1, L2 and L3 larvae, 1.087 g/cm(3) for L4 larvae, 1.081 g/cm(3) for newly molted adults, and 1.074 g/cm(3) at 24 hours of adulthood. The density of adult worms under starvation stress fell well outside this range, falling to a mean value of 1.054 g/cm(3) after eight hours of starvation. This decrease in density correlated with the consumption of stored glycogen in the food-deprived worms. The density of the worms increased when deprived of food for longer durations, corresponding to a shift in the response of the worms: worms sacrifice their bodies by retaining larvae, which consume the adults from within. Density-based screens with the drug Ivermectin on worms cultured on single plates resulted in a clear bimodal (double-peaked) distribution of densities corresponding to drug exposed and non-exposed worms. Thus, measurements of changes in density could be used to conduct screens on the effects of drugs on several populations of worms cultured on single plates.
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spelling pubmed-37267762013-08-06 Shifts in the Distribution of Mass Densities Is a Signature of Caloric Restriction in Caenorhabditis elegans Reina, Alfonso Subramaniam, Anand Bala Laromaine, Anna Samuel, Aravinthan D. T. Whitesides, George M. PLoS One Research Article Although the starvation response of the model multicellular organism Caenorhabditis elegans is a subject of much research, there is no convenient phenotypic readout of caloric restriction that can be applicable to large numbers of worms. This paper describes the distribution of mass densities of populations of C. elegans, from larval stages up to day one of adulthood, using isopycnic centrifugation, and finds that density is a convenient, if complex, phenotypic readout in C. elegans. The density of worms in synchronized populations of wildtype N2 C. elegans grown under standard solid-phase culture conditions was normally distributed, with distributions peaked sharply at a mean of 1.091 g/cm(3) for L1, L2 and L3 larvae, 1.087 g/cm(3) for L4 larvae, 1.081 g/cm(3) for newly molted adults, and 1.074 g/cm(3) at 24 hours of adulthood. The density of adult worms under starvation stress fell well outside this range, falling to a mean value of 1.054 g/cm(3) after eight hours of starvation. This decrease in density correlated with the consumption of stored glycogen in the food-deprived worms. The density of the worms increased when deprived of food for longer durations, corresponding to a shift in the response of the worms: worms sacrifice their bodies by retaining larvae, which consume the adults from within. Density-based screens with the drug Ivermectin on worms cultured on single plates resulted in a clear bimodal (double-peaked) distribution of densities corresponding to drug exposed and non-exposed worms. Thus, measurements of changes in density could be used to conduct screens on the effects of drugs on several populations of worms cultured on single plates. Public Library of Science 2013-07-29 /pmc/articles/PMC3726776/ /pubmed/23922767 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0069651 Text en © 2013 Reina et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Reina, Alfonso
Subramaniam, Anand Bala
Laromaine, Anna
Samuel, Aravinthan D. T.
Whitesides, George M.
Shifts in the Distribution of Mass Densities Is a Signature of Caloric Restriction in Caenorhabditis elegans
title Shifts in the Distribution of Mass Densities Is a Signature of Caloric Restriction in Caenorhabditis elegans
title_full Shifts in the Distribution of Mass Densities Is a Signature of Caloric Restriction in Caenorhabditis elegans
title_fullStr Shifts in the Distribution of Mass Densities Is a Signature of Caloric Restriction in Caenorhabditis elegans
title_full_unstemmed Shifts in the Distribution of Mass Densities Is a Signature of Caloric Restriction in Caenorhabditis elegans
title_short Shifts in the Distribution of Mass Densities Is a Signature of Caloric Restriction in Caenorhabditis elegans
title_sort shifts in the distribution of mass densities is a signature of caloric restriction in caenorhabditis elegans
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3726776/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23922767
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0069651
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