All eukaryotes so far studied, including animals, plants, yeasts and trypanosomes, have two pathways to target proteins to peroxisomes. These two pathways are specific for the two types of peroxisome targeting signal (PTS) present on peroxisomal matrix proteins. Remarkably, the complete genome sequence of Caenorhabditis elegans lacks the genes encoding proteins specific for the PTS2 targeting p...

The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is a popular model system in genetics, not least because a majority of human disease genes are conserved in C. elegans. To generate a comprehensive inventory of its expressed proteome, we performed extensive shotgun proteomics and identified more than half of all predicted C. elegans proteins. This allowed us to confirm and extend genome annotations, characte...

Cocaine, a potent addictive substance, is an inhibitor of monoamine transporters, including DAT (dopamine transporter), SERT (serotonin transporter) and NET (norepinephrine transporter). Cocaine administration induces complex behavioral alterations in mammals, but the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. Here, we tested the effect of cocaine on C. elegans behavior. We show for the fir...

Here we provide the first genome-wide in vivo analysis of the Na+/Ca2+ exchanger family in the model system Caenorhabditis elegans. We source all members of this family within the Caenorhabditis genus and reconstruct their phylogeny across humans and Drosophila melanogaster. Next, we provide a description of the expression pattern for each exchanger gene in C. elegans, revealing a wide expressi...

The nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans, has served as a fruitful setting for understanding conserved biological processes. The past decade has seen the rise of this model organism as an important tool for uncovering the mysteries of the glial cell, which partners with neurons to generate a functioning nervous system in all animals. C. elegans affords unparalleled single-cell resolution in vivo in...

For more than ten years the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has proven to be a valuable model for studies of the host response to various bacterial and fungal pathogens. When exposed to a pathogenic organism, a clear response is elicited in the nematode, which is characterized by specific alterations on the transcriptional and translational levels. Early on, researchers took advantage of the po...

Female reproductive decline is one of the first aging phenotypes in humans, manifested in increasing rates of infertility, miscarriage, and birth defects in children of mothers over 35. Recently, Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) has been developed as a model to study reproductive aging, and several studies have advanced our knowledge of reproductive aging regulation in this organism. In this...

The Caenorhabditis elegans oocyte is a highly amenable system for forward and reverse genetic analysis of receptor-mediated endocytosis. We describe the use of transgenic strains expressing a vitellogenin::green fluorescent protein (YP170::GFP) fusion to monitor yolk endocytosis by the C. elegans oocyte in vivo. This YP170::GFP reporter was used to assay the functions of C. elegans predicted pr...

Cornelia Isabella Bargmann studied the relationship between genes [4], neural circuits, and behavior in the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans [5] (C. elegans) during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries in the US. Bargmann?s research focused on how the sense of smell (olfaction) in the nematode word Caenorhabditis elegans [6]. She provided a model to study how neural circuits develop and fun...

The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is proving to be a powerful invertebrate model to study host-pathogen interactions. In common with other invertebrates, C. elegans relies solely on its innate immune system to defend itself against pathogens. Studies of the nematode response to infection with various fungal and bacterial pathogens have revealed that the innate immune system of C. elegans empl...