Shifts in the distribution of mass densities is a signature of caloric restriction in Caenorhabditis elegans.

ABSTRACT: 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

SUBMITTER: Reina A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3726776 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature