Biochemistry and molecular biology of the Caenorhabditis elegans dauer larva
Biochemical and molecular techniques have been used to study the formation and recovery of the developmentally arrested, non-feeding dauer stage of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. While investigating developmental transitions in energy metabolism, a major metabolite isolated from perchloric acid extracts has been identified as a modified uridine nucleotide. The compound was isolated by gel filtration and ion-exchange chromatography and its structure was determined by {sup 1}H NMR and {sup 13}C NMR spectroscopy. This compound is the most abundant metabolite detected in {sup 31}PMR spectra of perchloric acid extracts from growing larvae. In the absence of phosphoarginine or phosphocreatine, this modified nucleotide may have an important function in the nematode's energy metabolism, and it may also be found in several other invertebrates. During recovery from the dauer stage, metabolic activation is accompanied by a decrease in intracellular pH (pH{sub i}). Although metabolic activation has been associated with an alkaline pH{sub i} shift in other organisms, in vivo {sup 31}P NMR analysis of recovering dauer larvae shows a pH{sub i} decrease from {approximately}7.3 to {approximately}6.3 within 3 hr after the animals encounter food. This shift occurs before feeding begins, and coincides with, or soon follows, the development commitment to recover from the dauer stage, suggesting that control of pH{sub i} may be important in the regulation of larval development in nematodes. A library enriched for sequences expressed specifically during the L2d (predauer) stage was made by selecting plaques from a genomic lambda library that hybridized to subtracted L2d cDNA probes. Ultimately, three clones that were shown to hybridize only to L2d RNA were selected.
- Research Organization:
- Missouri Univ., Columbia, MO (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 5526544
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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550501* -- Metabolism-- Tracer Techniques
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
ASCHELMINTHES
BARYONS
BIOCHEMISTRY
CARBON 13
CARBON ISOTOPES
CHEMICAL SHIFT
CHEMISTRY
CHROMATOGRAPHY
DNA HYBRIDIZATION
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
FERMIONS
GENES
HADRONS
HELMINTHS
HYBRIDIZATION
ISOTOPE APPLICATIONS
ISOTOPES
LARVAE
LIGHT NUCLEI
METABOLISM
METABOLITES
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
NEMATODES
NMR SPECTRA
NUCLEI
NUCLEONS
NUCLEOTIDES
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PHOSPHORUS 31
PHOSPHORUS ISOTOPES
PROTONS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SPECTRA
STABLE ISOTOPES
TRACER TECHNIQUES