Saunders AM et al. (2007) Curr Biol "Kinesin-5 acts as a brake in anaphase spindle elongation."

Strome S, Powers J, Saunders AM, Saxton WM

[Curr Biol, 2007]

Bipolar kinesin-5 motors, essential in diverse organisms, can generate positive sliding forces between overlapped interpolar microtubules to push mitotic spindle poles apart. BMK-1, the sole Caenorhabditis elegans kinesin-5, is not essential. We have determined, by tracking pole movements in bmk-1 mutant C. elegans embryos, that BMK-1 actually resists pole separation during anaphase. This provides in vivo evidence that kinesin-5, when challenged by fast pole separation forces, can serve as a rate-limiting brake for interpolar microtubule sliding.

Schnabel R et al. (1997) Nature "Hox genes misled by local environments."

Schnabel R, Schnabel H

[Nature, 1997]

Cowing and Kenyon raise an important issue concerning Hox genes by suggesting that these genes may not only be expressed according to position but also according to cell lineage. This suggestion is based on two experiments in which the so-called M cell and two hypodermal V6 cells were manipulated to express a Hox gene, mab-5, outside the posterior region of the Caenorhabditis elegans embryo. Here we propose a less radical interpretation of these data.

Vaupel JW et al. (1994) Science "Rates of mortality in populations of Caenorhabditis elegans."

Vaupel JW, Lithgow GJ, Xiu L, Fukui HH, Curtsinger JW, Khazaeli A, Pletcher S, Capra WB, Carey JR, Johnson TE, Muller HG, Wang JL

[Science, 1994]

A. Brooks et al. report that mortality increased exponentially for a cohort of 180,000 nematodes of the species Caenorhabditis elegans of the single genotype TJ1060 [spe-9(hc88) fer-15(b26)]. A closer look at the data reveals that from days 5 through 8 mortality increased at a rate of 0.58 +/- 0.0004, which is more than twice the rate thereafter (0.21 +/- 0.02). Such a "biphasic pattern," with death rates increasing rapidly at younger ages and more slowly at older ages, was also found in a genetically heterogeneous population of 79 recombinant-inbred (RI) strains.

Laos T et al. (2015) Curr Biol "Isotropic incorporation of SPD-5 underlies centrosome assembly in C. elegans."

Laos T, Dammermann A, Cabral G

[Curr Biol, 2015]

Centrosomes are important regulators of microtubule organization in animal cells. Within the centrosome, microtubule nucleation and anchorage are mediated by proteins in the pericentriolar material (PCM) that accumulates around centrioles. The spatial organization of the PCM and the contribution of centrioles to its recruitment remain poorly understood. Previous work in the Drosophila embryo showed that the key PCM component Cnn specifically incorporates near centrioles, suggesting that centrioles play an ongoing role in PCM assembly [1]. It is currently unclear whether this model holds true in other organisms. Here, we examine PCM dynamics in the Caenorhabditis elegans embryo. We find that recruitment of the scaffold component SPD-5 occurs throughout the PCM. Incorporation of additional PCM subunits is therefore not limited to specific nucleation sites near centrioles, which has profound implications for the organization of the PCM lattice and the role of centrioles in centrosome assembly.

Kishikawa JI et al. (2012) Microsc Res Tech "MRT letter: Expression of ATP sensor protein in Caenorhabditis elegans."

Yasuda K, Imamura H, Noji H, Kishikawa JI, Mitani S, Ishii N, Fujikawa M, Yokoyama K

[Microsc Res Tech, 2012]

Adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP) is the major energy currency and is involved in many biological processes. The ATP-monitoring system for cells in animals can be helpful to study the relationship between energy metabolism and biological processes. The fluorescent ATP biosensor ATeam (ATP indicator based on Epsilon subunit for Analytical Measurements), which has been reported to monitor ATP levels in cultured cells on the basis of fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), was introduced into nematodes by microinjection and UV-irradiation method. To confirm whether ATeam functions as an ATP sensor in nematode cells, the authors measured FRET of ATeam in cells of transgenic nematode. The ATeam was expressed in target cells in nematode. In vulva cells, ATP levels in the cytosol were higher than those in mitochondria. ATeam also sensed ATP level change in cultured cells from the transgenic nematode. These experiments indicated that ATeam is available for detection of changes in ATP levels in nematode cells.