Manipulation of food content?

Model Organism: Worms Methods & Reagents
1

Hi all,

I’m wondering if there are ways to manipulate the diet of C. elegans to alter the ratios of amino acids, sugars, lipids etc. I have seen people grow worms in axenic media. Does anyone have experience with this?

Thanks,

Adam

2

Curr Protoc Toxicol. 2007 Feb;Chapter 1:Unit1.9. doi: 10.1002/0471140856.tx0109s31.
The nematode C. elegans as an animal model to explore toxicology in vivo: solid and axenic growth culture conditions and compound exposure parameters.
Nass R, Hamza I.

3

For that, I guess you’d have to go back to the pre-brennerians, in particular Ellsworth Dougherty’s work (from the 40s to the 60s). Naturally, the problem is that a big part of his work is not available in electronic format…

4

it depends upon your specific goal here…you could spend the rest of your life investigating this question… :o

So, for example, Eric Clegg’s lab constructed this partially-defined axenic medium, linked here;

http://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/1903/2204/1/CeHR_medium.htm

that might be a good starting point if you have specific ideas about what you want to manipulate?

Steve

5

but luckily some of Ellsworth C. Dougherty’s work is available in electronic form…particularly #2 shows how visionary he was…

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1749-6632.1959.tb36901.x/abstract

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v161/n4079/abs/161029a0.html

http://jhered.oxfordjournals.org/content/41/4/103.extract

Steve