#nematode worm

That’ll Do Now

Enzyme called MARC3 blocks further sperm entering eggs within seconds after fertilisation in the model organism C.elegans – insight for fertilisation studies in humans

Read the published research article here

Image from work by Ichiro Kawasaki, Kenta Sugiura and Miyuki Sato, and colleagues

Institute for Molecular and Cellular Regulation, Gunma University, Maebashi, Gunma, Japan

Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Published in Nature Communications, January 2024

Eminent and Elegant

This month, Nobel-prize winning biologist Sydney Brenner died, aged 92. He’s remembered for pioneering the study of a tiny nematode worm, called Caenorhabditis elegans, as a tool to learn more about the biology and development of living organisms. Brenner chose this worm during the 1960s because it offered insights into complex biological processes, while being simple enough to study in-depth. His work on C.elegans initiated a new field of research and was rewarded with the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which he shared with the late John Sulston, one of his first students, and with Robert Horvitz, a geneticist working in his laboratory. Brenner is also known for co-discovering messenger RNA molecules, which transport copies of our DNA from its safe house – the nucleus – to the factory-like sites in the cytoplasm that produce proteins. Brenner was a driving force in molecular biology and today nematode worms are common place in laboratories world-wide.

Written by Deborah Oakley

Image from Universitat Pompeu Fabra on Flickr

Image originally published on Flickr with a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 2.0 licence

Worm Eat Worm

Going on a diet is a common new year resolution. As well as helping to reduce waistlines, this approach might also help to increase lifespan. Although there’s little evidence at the moment to show that major calorie restriction in humans can increase lifespan, keeping a healthy weight helps to cut the risk of heart disease and more. In some animals, including the nematode worms in these images, a drastically reduced calorie diet can significantly boost longevity. While the worms on the left have eaten a normal amount of food, the ones on the right have a genetic change that mimics the effects of a restricted diet. They’ve been treated with a fluorescent dye that highlights a process called autophagy, when cells ‘eat’ themselves. By ramping up the levels of autophagy in their guts, the dieting worms get rid of dead and damaged cells, keeping the animals alive for longer.

Written by Kat Arney

Image from work by Sara Gelino and colleagues

Program of Development, Aging and Regeneration, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA

Image originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY 4.0)

Published in PLOS Genetics, July 2016