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(1 - 8 of 8)
- Title
- egl‑4 modulates electroconvulsive seizure duration in C. elegans.
- Creator
- Monica G. Risley, Stephanie P. Kelly, Justin Minnerly, Kailiang Jia, Ken Dawson‑Scully
- Abstract/Description
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Increased neuronal excitability causes seizures with debilitating symptoms. Effective and noninvasive treatments are limited for easing symptoms, partially due to the complexity of the disorder and lack of knowledge of specific molecular faults. An unexplored, novel target for seizure therapeutics is the cGMP/protein kinase G (PKG) pathway, which targets downstream K+ channels, a mechanism similar to Retigabine, a recently FDA-approved antiepileptic drug. Our results demonstrate that...
Show moreIncreased neuronal excitability causes seizures with debilitating symptoms. Effective and noninvasive treatments are limited for easing symptoms, partially due to the complexity of the disorder and lack of knowledge of specific molecular faults. An unexplored, novel target for seizure therapeutics is the cGMP/protein kinase G (PKG) pathway, which targets downstream K+ channels, a mechanism similar to Retigabine, a recently FDA-approved antiepileptic drug. Our results demonstrate that increased PKG activity decreased seizure duration in C. elegans utilizing a recently developed electroconvulsive seizure assay. While the fly is a well-established seizure model, C. elegans are an ideal yet unexploited model which easily uptakes drugs and can be utilized for high-throughput screens. In this study, we show that treating the worms with either a potassium channel opener, Retigabine or published pharmaceuticals that increase PKG activity, significantly reduces seizure recovery times. Our results suggest that PKG signaling modulates downstream K+ channel conductance to control seizure recovery time in C. elegans. Hence, we provide powerful evidence, suggesting that pharmacological manipulation of the PKG signaling cascade may control seizure duration across phyla.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2018
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FAUIR000532
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- The cell non-autonomous function of ATG-18 is essential for neuroendocrine regulation of Caenorhabditis elegans lifespan.
- Creator
- Justin Minnerly, Jiuli Zhang, Thomas Parker, Tiffany Kaul, Kailiang Jia
- Abstract/Description
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Restriction of dietary food without malnutrition robustly extends lifespan in more than twenty species. It was also reported that fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) deficient in olfactory function live longer and that the longevity induced by food restriction is partially due to decreased olfaction. These observations suggest food assimilation through the gastrointestinal tract and food smell detected by olfactory neurons influence lifespan. The insulin growth factor signaling pathway is...
Show moreRestriction of dietary food without malnutrition robustly extends lifespan in more than twenty species. It was also reported that fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) deficient in olfactory function live longer and that the longevity induced by food restriction is partially due to decreased olfaction. These observations suggest food assimilation through the gastrointestinal tract and food smell detected by olfactory neurons influence lifespan. The insulin growth factor signaling pathway is regulated by nutrient levels and has been shown to mediate the lifespan extension conferred by food restriction and defective gustatory neurons in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. However, the mechanism remains unclear. Autophagy is a lysosomal degradation pathway and is sensitive to nutrient availability. We found autophagy activity in the intestine and food sensory neurons acts in parallel to mediate food restriction and insulin signaling regulated lifespan extension in Caenorhabditis elegans. Moreover, intestinal and neuronal autophagy converge on unidentified neurons to control the secretion of neuropeptides that regulate lifespan. These data suggest autophagy is an essential component in a neuroendocrine pathway that coordinates how environmental food cues detected by sensory neurons and food nutrients assimilated by the intestine influence lifespan. These findings may contribute to understanding the aging process in mammals.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FAUIR000531
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Modulating Behavior in C. elegans Using Electroshock and Antiepileptic Drugs.
- Creator
- Monica G. Risley, Stephanie P. Kelly, Kailiang Jia, Brock Grill, Ken Dawson- Scully
- Abstract/Description
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The microscopic nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has emerged as a valuable model for understanding the molecular and cellular basis of neurological disorders. The worm offers important physiological similarities to mammalian models such as conserved neuron morphology, ion channels, and neurotransmitters. While a wide-array of behavioral assays are available in C. elegans, an assay for electroshock/electroconvulsion remains absent. Here, we have developed a quantitative behavioral method to...
Show moreThe microscopic nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has emerged as a valuable model for understanding the molecular and cellular basis of neurological disorders. The worm offers important physiological similarities to mammalian models such as conserved neuron morphology, ion channels, and neurotransmitters. While a wide-array of behavioral assays are available in C. elegans, an assay for electroshock/electroconvulsion remains absent. Here, we have developed a quantitative behavioral method to assess the locomotor response following electric shock in C. elegans. Electric shock impairs normal locomotion, and induces paralysis and muscle twitching; after a brief recovery period, shocked animals resume normal locomotion. We tested electric shock responses in loss-of-function mutants for unc-25, which encodes the GABA biosynthetic enzyme GAD, and unc-49, which encodes the GABAA receptor. unc-25 and unc-49 mutants have decreased inhibitory GABAergic transmission to muscles, and take significantly more time to recover normal locomotion following electric shock compared to wild-type. Importantly, increased sensitivity of unc-25 and unc-49 mutants to electric shock is rescued by treatment with antiepileptic drugs, such as retigabine. Additionally, we show that pentylenetetrazol (PTZ), a GABAA receptor antagonist and proconvulsant in mammalian and C. elegans seizure models, increases susceptibility of worms to electric shock.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2016
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FAUIR000530
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Guidelines for monitoring autophagy in Caenorhabditis elegans.
- Creator
- Hong Zhang, Jessica T Chang, Bin Guo, Malene Hansen, Kailiang Jia, Attila L Kovács, Caroline Kumsta, Louis R Lapierre, Renaud Legouis, Long Lin, Qun Lu, Alicia Meléndez, Eyleen J O'Rourke, Ken Sato, Miyuki Sato, Xiaochen Wang, Fan Wu
- Abstract/Description
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The cellular recycling process of autophagy has been extensively characterized with standard assays in yeast and mammalian cell lines. In multicellular organisms, numerous external and internal factors differentially affect autophagy activity in specific cell types throughout the stages of organismal ontogeny, adding complexity to the analysis of autophagy in these metazoans. Here we summarize currently available assays for monitoring the autophagic process in the nematode C. elegans. A...
Show moreThe cellular recycling process of autophagy has been extensively characterized with standard assays in yeast and mammalian cell lines. In multicellular organisms, numerous external and internal factors differentially affect autophagy activity in specific cell types throughout the stages of organismal ontogeny, adding complexity to the analysis of autophagy in these metazoans. Here we summarize currently available assays for monitoring the autophagic process in the nematode C. elegans. A combination of measuring levels of the lipidated Atg8 ortholog LGG-1, degradation of well characterized autophagic substrates such as germline P granule components and the SQSTM1/p62 ortholog SQST-1, expression of autophagic genes and electron microscopy analysis of autophagic structures are presently the most informative, yet steady-state, approaches available to assess autophagy levels in C. elegans. We also review how altered autophagy activity affects a variety of biological processes in C. elegans such as L1 survival under starvation conditions, dauer formation, aging, and cell death, as well as neuronal cell specification. Taken together, C. elegans is emerging as a powerful model organism to monitor autophagy while evaluating important physiological roles for autophagy in key developmental events as well as during adulthood.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2015
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FAUIR000529
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- daf-31 Encodes the Catalytic Subunit of N Alpha-Acetyltransferase that Regulates Caenorhabditis elegans Development, Metabolism and Adult Lifespan.
- Creator
- Chen, Di, Zhang, Jiuli, Minnerly, Justin, Kaul, Tiffany, Riddle, Donald L., Jia, Kailiang, Kim, Stuart K.
- Date Issued
- 2014-10-16
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FAUIR000115
- Format
- Citation
- Title
- Aberrant Autolysosomal Regulation Is Linked to The Induction of Embryonic Senescence: Differential Roles of Beclin 1 and p53 in Vertebrate Spns1 Deficien.
- Creator
- Tomoyuki Sasaki, Shanshan Lian, Jie Qi, Peter E. Bayliss, Christopher E. Carr, Jennifer L. Johnson, Sujay Guha, Patrick Kobler, Sergio D. Catz, Matthew Gill, Kailiang Jia, Daniel J. Klionsky
- Abstract/Description
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Spinster (Spin) in Drosophila or Spinster homolog 1 (Spns1) in vertebrates is a putative lysosomal H+-carbohydrate transporter, which functions at a late stage of autophagy. The Spin/Spns1 defect induces aberrant autolysosome formation that leads to embryonic senescence and accelerated aging symptoms, but little is known about the mechanisms leading to the pathogenesis in vivo. Beclin 1 and p53 are two pivotal tumor suppressors that are critically involved in the autophagic process and its...
Show moreSpinster (Spin) in Drosophila or Spinster homolog 1 (Spns1) in vertebrates is a putative lysosomal H+-carbohydrate transporter, which functions at a late stage of autophagy. The Spin/Spns1 defect induces aberrant autolysosome formation that leads to embryonic senescence and accelerated aging symptoms, but little is known about the mechanisms leading to the pathogenesis in vivo. Beclin 1 and p53 are two pivotal tumor suppressors that are critically involved in the autophagic process and its regulation. Using zebrafish as a genetic model, we show that Beclin 1 suppression ameliorates Spns1 lossmediated senescence as well as autophagic impairment, whereas unexpectedly p53 deficit exacerbates both of these characteristics. We demonstrate that ‘basal p53’ activity plays a certain protective role(s) against the Spns1 defect-induced senescence via suppressing autophagy, lysosomal biogenesis, and subsequent autolysosomal formation and maturation, and that p53 loss can counteract the effect of Beclin 1 suppression to rescue the Spns1 defect. By contrast, in response to DNA damage, ‘activated p53’ showed an apparent enhancement of the Spns1-deficient phenotype, by inducing both autophagy and apoptosis. Moreover, we found that a chemical and genetic blockage of lysosomal acidification and biogenesis mediated by the vacuolar-type H+-ATPase, as well as of subsequent autophagosome-lysosome fusion, prevents the appearance of the hallmarks caused by the Spns1 deficiency, irrespective of the basal p53 state. Thus, these results provide evidence that Spns1 operates during autophagy and senescence differentially with Beclin 1 and p53.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2014
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FAUIR000526
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Intestinal autophagy activity is essential for host defense against Salmonella typhimurium infection in Caenorhabditis elega.
- Creator
- Alexander Curt, Jiuli Zhang, Justin Minnerly, Kailiang Jia
- Abstract/Description
-
Salmonella typhimurium infects both intestinal epithelial cells and macrophages. Autophagy is a lysosomal degradation pathway that is present in all eukaryotes. Autophagy has been reported to limit the Salmonella replication in Caenorhabditis elegans and in mammals. However, it is unknown whether intestinal autophagy activity plays a role in host defense against Salmonella infection in C. elegans. In this study, we inhibited the autophagy gene bec-1 in different C. elegans tissues and...
Show moreSalmonella typhimurium infects both intestinal epithelial cells and macrophages. Autophagy is a lysosomal degradation pathway that is present in all eukaryotes. Autophagy has been reported to limit the Salmonella replication in Caenorhabditis elegans and in mammals. However, it is unknown whether intestinal autophagy activity plays a role in host defense against Salmonella infection in C. elegans. In this study, we inhibited the autophagy gene bec-1 in different C. elegans tissues and examined the survival of these animals following Salmonella infection. Here we show that inhibition of the bec-1 gene in the intestine but not in other tissues confers susceptibility to Salmonella infection, which is consistent with recent studies in mice showing that autophagy is involved in clearance of Salmonella in the intestinal epithelial cells. Therefore, the intestinal autophagy activity is essential for host defense against Salmonella infection from C. elegans to mice, perhaps also in humans.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2014
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FAUIR000527
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- A Protocol to Infect Caenorhabditis elegans with Salmonella typhimuri.
- Creator
- Jiuli Zhang, Kailiang Jia
- Abstract/Description
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In the last decade, C. elegans has emerged as an invertebrate organism to study interactions between hosts and pathogens, including the host defense against gram-negative bacterium Salmonella typhimurium. Salmonella establishes persistent infection in the intestine of C. elegans and results in early death of infected animals. A number of immunity mechanisms have been identified in C. elegans to defend against Salmonella infections. Autophagy, an evolutionarily conserved lysosomal degradation...
Show moreIn the last decade, C. elegans has emerged as an invertebrate organism to study interactions between hosts and pathogens, including the host defense against gram-negative bacterium Salmonella typhimurium. Salmonella establishes persistent infection in the intestine of C. elegans and results in early death of infected animals. A number of immunity mechanisms have been identified in C. elegans to defend against Salmonella infections. Autophagy, an evolutionarily conserved lysosomal degradation pathway, has been shown to limit the Salmonella replication in C. elegans and in mammals. Here, a protocol is described to infect C. elegans with Salmonella typhimurium, in which the worms are exposed to Salmonella for a limited time, similar to Salmonella infection in humans. Salmonella infection significantly shortens the lifespan of C. elegans. Using the essential autophagy gene bec-1 as an example, we combined this infection method with C. elegans RNAi feeding approach and showed this protocol can be used to examine the function of C. elegans host genes in defense against Salmonella infection. Since C. elegans whole genome RNAi libraries are available, this protocol makes it possible to comprehensively screen for C. elegans genes that protect against Salmonella and other intestinal pathogens using genome-wide RNAi libraries.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2014
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FAUIR000528
- Format
- Document (PDF)
