Wei Jie Cao

Mediator-29 Limits Caenorhabditis elegans Fecundity

This study shows that MDT-29 in C. elegans germ cells regulates fecundity by affecting stem cell numbers and apoptosis.

A neuro-intestinal circuit controls mitochondrial dynamics and stress resistance

The paper shows that GABA inhibits and acetylcholine promotes the mitochondrial stress response in C. elegans intestine via a neuro-intestinal circuit.

Conditional degradation of UNC-31/CAPS enables spatiotemporal analysis of neuropeptide function

This paper develops a tool to conditionally degrade UNC-31 in C. elegans to study neuropeptide function with spatiotemporal precision, revealing specific defects in egg-laying, locomotion, and vesicle release.

Atypical TGF-beta Signaling Controls Neuronal Guidance in Caenorhabditis elegans

The paper identifies an atypical TGF-beta signaling pathway in C. elegans that regulates neuronal guidance through SMA-6 and NLR-1 interactions.

Functional Recovery of the Germ Line Following Splicing Collapse

This study identifies MOG-7 as a pre-mRNA splicing factor in C. elegans, showing that its loss causes splicing defects and sterility, but functional recovery occurs through apoptosis and progenitor zone proliferation.

Distinct CED-10/Rac1 Domains Confer Context-Specific Functions in Neuronal Development

The paper identifies a specific glycine residue in CED-10/Rac1 that is critical for axon outgrowth but not guidance, revealing domain-specific functions in neuronal development.