The application of traditional transmission electron microscopy for autophagy research in Caenorhabditis elegans

Traditional ultrastructural characterization of autophagic processes remains an important approach to be used in parallel with molecular genetics, light microscopy, and other methods. The special nature of Caenorhabditis elegans as an object for transmission electron microscopy makes its introduction into autophagy research a challenging task. The basis of the protocol to prepare C. elegans samples for autophagy studies was worked out around the turn of the millennium and has been used since then in my laboratory with some modifications. The method described here enables the user to prepare samples for systematic morphologic as well as morphometric investigations to characterize autophagy with a high but still realistic investment of effort.