The paper introduces a label-free automated method to score nematode survival in high-throughput assays and finds an autophagy-dependent increase in acute stress resistance in early adulthood.

Aging Cell · Jul 16, 2019Peer-reviewedGenetics

Monsters in the uterus: A parthenogenetic quasi-program causes teratoma-like tumors during aging in wild-type C. elegans

Hongyuan Wang, Yuan Zhao, Marina Ezcurra, Alexandre Benedetto, Ann F. Gilliat, Josephine E. E. U. Hellberg, Ziyu Ren, Evgeniy R. Galimov, Trin Athigapanich, Johannes Girstmair, Maximilian J. Telford, Colin T. Dolphin, Zhizhou Zhang, David Gems

The paper investigates uterine tumors in C. elegans as a senescent pathology caused by quasi-programs, showing similarities to teratomas and senescence.

npj Aging and Mechanisms of Disease · Jun 7, 2018Peer-reviewedDevelopmental Biology

Autophagy-dependent gut-to-yolk biomass conversion generates visceral polymorbidity in aging C. elegans

Marina Ezcurra, Alexandre Benedetto, Thanet Sornda, Ann F. Gilliat, Catherine Au, Qifeng Zhang, Sophie van Schelt, Alexandra L. Petrache, Yila de la Guardia, Shoshana Bar-Nun, Eleanor Tyler, Michael J. Wakelam, David Gems

This study identifies autophagy-mediated gut-to-yolk biomass conversion as a cause of visceral pathologies and polymorbidity in aging C. elegans, and shows that inhibiting this process extends lifespan.

bioRxiv · Dec 15, 2017 · PreprintPhysiology