{"id":482998,"date":"2024-01-12T14:12:33","date_gmt":"2024-01-12T19:12:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/platohealth.ai\/the-early-bird-or-scientist-gets-the-worm\/"},"modified":"2024-01-12T14:30:42","modified_gmt":"2024-01-12T19:30:42","slug":"the-early-bird-or-scientist-gets-the-worm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/platohealth.ai\/the-early-bird-or-scientist-gets-the-worm\/","title":{"rendered":"The early bird (or scientist) gets the worm","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

RIVERSIDE, Calif. \u2014 Size does not matter. Certainly not when it comes to tiny worms securing the attention of biologists. One such biologist, Morris F. Maduro at the University of California, Riverside, has just been awarded a grant of nearly $1.3 million from the National Science Foundation, or NSF, to study a worm (or nematode) about a millimeter in length.<\/p>\n

Credit: Stan Lim, UC Riverside.<\/p>\n

\n

RIVERSIDE, Calif. \u2014 Size does not matter. Certainly not when it comes to tiny worms securing the attention of biologists. One such biologist, Morris F. Maduro at the University of California, Riverside, has just been awarded a grant of nearly $1.3 million from the National Science Foundation, or NSF, to study a worm (or nematode) about a millimeter in length.<\/p>\n

The research project will focus on the gut of Pristionchus pacificus<\/em>. Like most nematodes, P. pacificus<\/em> develops quickly, its growth from embryo to adult taking just four days. It is a complete animal, with a nervous system, skin, intestine, and muscles. Nematodes of the genus Pristionchus<\/em> are a distant relative of the well-studied species Caenorhabditis elegans<\/em>, used by biologists as a model organism to study animal development and behavior.<\/p>\n

Funded for four years, the research project will focus on changes in the gene network that specify the early intestinal precursor cells in nematodes like P. pacificus<\/em>. Gene networks describe how genes turn each other on and off. Precursor cells are stem cells that can differentiate \u2014 or specialize \u2014 into only one cell type.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring embryonic development, gene networks cause cells to develop along pathways of differentiation, resulting in cells becoming specialized in their function,\u201d said Maduro, a professor of molecular, cell and systems biology who has studied nematodes for more than two decades. \u201cChanges in such networks occur over evolutionary time and in human disease. For more than 25 years, gut specification was studied in only a single species, C. elegans<\/em>, and its close relatives. The NSF grant will allow us to extend our work into the genus Pristionchus<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

P. pacificus<\/em> is usually found in association with a species of scarab beetle, while C. elegans<\/em> is free-living and usually found on rotting fruit. P. pacificus<\/em> has some adaptations, such as a mouth with a little tooth for eating the corpses of dead beetles. As a result, P. pacificus<\/em> can attack other nematodes and is more predatory than C. elegans<\/em>. C. elegans<\/em> tends to eat mostly bacteria and fungi. <\/p>\n

\u201cPristionchus<\/em> embryos look a like those of C. elegans<\/em>,\u201d Maduro said. \u201cBut even when the phenotype, the outward form of the animal, doesn\u2019t change, the genes behind the scenes can still change. This phenomenon is called developmental system drift, paralleling the term genetic drift. Entire sets of genes can change while their overall function does not. In other words, the endpoint, whether it\u2019s C. elegans<\/em> or P. pacificus<\/em> or another nematode species, still looks like a nematode. This means Pristionchus makes its gut in a different way than C. elegans<\/em>. This idea that genes change when the phenotype looks the same among species is probably quite widespread.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eric S. Haag, a professor of biology at the University of Maryland who will not be participating in the research project, said he is excited to learn more about Maduro\u2019s work. <\/p>\n

\u201cBiologists have long sought to understand how new features of animal bodies get encoded by new genomic instructions. But we now know that even the genes that construct ancient traits still undergo evolutionary changes,\u201d Haag said. \u201cDr. Maduro\u2019s work uses a very manipulable type of nematode to explore this paradoxical fact. Within a group of worms with very similar digestive systems, some species have re-invented the genetic circuits that control their development. It\u2019s so surprising, and I can\u2019t wait to learn about what they find.\u201d <\/p>\n

Maduro explained that gene network changes can occur due to mutations or infection and can lead to diseases such as cancer. <\/p>\n

\u201cNematodes are a powerful model system for us to study how gene networks can change, because we can get answers inexpensively and on a short time scale,\u201d he said. \u201cBy comparing Pristionchus<\/em> and C. elegans<\/em>, we hope to learn fundamental principles about how gene networks can become more complex.\u201d<\/p>\n

The project will use a combination of bioinformatic and genetics methods to understand how the simple embryonic gene network in an ancestral Pristionchus<\/em> species underwent expansion over evolutionary time to form a more complex network. <\/p>\n

\u201cTwo technologies have allowed researchers to address the explosion of this and other evolutionary questions we see today,\u201d Maduro said. \u201cThey are (a) rapid genome sequencing at low cost and (b) the ability to use CRISPR to knock out genes in the genome at low cost and high efficiency.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maduro added that nematode species can be found in almost every ecological niche on Earth. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are maybe a million different species,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can only study a small number of them. Pristionchus<\/em> garnered scientific interest only about 25 years ago and research took off in earnest in the past decade when CRISPR became available to simplify gene editing. P. pacificus<\/em> has three genes that specify the gut, but other related species have fewer genes. We have an opportunity to study the stepwise evolution of how this network got bigger and more complicated.\u201d <\/p>\n

Preliminary work in Maduro\u2019s lab identified two of these three expanded genes in Pristionchus<\/em>. When the gene pair was deleted, the gut disappeared in about half of the worms. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe now need to delete that third gene to make sure we know that\u2019s the only other gene that leads to gut specification,\u201d Maduro said. \u201cThis grant will help us do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The project will provide teaching and training opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students, including through a freshman laboratory course in nematode genetics, bioinformatics, microscopy, and molecular biology. Four undergraduate students will receive summer support for each year of the grant to work on projects related to Pristionchus<\/em>. The grant will support up to two graduate students. Maduro will be assisted in the research by his wife, Gina Broitman-Maduro, an associate specialist in his lab. The start date of the grant is January 15, 2024.<\/p>\n

The University of California, Riverside is a doctoral research university, a living laboratory for groundbreaking exploration of issues critical to Inland Southern California, the state and communities around the world. Reflecting California\u2019s diverse culture, UCR\u2019s enrollment is more than 26,000 students. The campus opened a medical school in 2013 and has reached the heart of the Coachella Valley by way of the UCR Palm Desert Center. The campus has an annual impact of more than $2.7 billion on the U.S. economy. To learn more, visit www.ucr.edu.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n