Caenorhabditis elegans is an attractive model organism in diverse fields of biology. One of the advantages of C. elegans is that it is feasible to generate “humanized” models of human diseases (Sin O et al., 2014).
Despite the lack of evolutionary complexity, there are a significant number of proteins that are evolutionary conserved between C. elegans and humans. It has been estimated that about 42% of the human disease genes have an orthologue in the genome of C. elegans including those genes associated with Alzheimer disease, Parkinson’s disease, muscular dystrophy, and many others disorders (Markaki M et al., 2011).
Neurodegenerative models usually involve the transgenic expression of human disease genes. In addition to being an excellent model to study diseases in the context of a whole organisms, C. elegans is compatible with high-throughput screenings for rapid and inexpensive drug discovery before boarding on expensive animal models (Markaki M et al., 2011).
Methods that automate measure behavioral differences, as wMicrotracker ONE and ARENA systems (Phylumtech), enables the study of human neurodegenerative disorders using ‘humanized worms’ and makes possible the screening of drugs.
Some researchers have already applied our technologies:
| Disease | Reference |
| Tauopathies | Currey HN et al., 2020. ARENA-Based Activity Profiling Of Tau And TDP-43 Transgenic C.Elegans |
| Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis | Poulomee B et al., 2019. The Novel Small Molecule TRVA242 Stabilizes Neuromuscular Junction Defects In Multiple Animal Models Of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. |
| Charcot-Marie-Tooth Type 2 | Soh MS et al., 2020. Disruption Of Genes Associated With Charcot-Marie-Tooth Type 2 Lead To Common Behavioural, Cellular And Molecular Defects In Caenorhabditis Elegans |
| Synucleinopathathies | Wang YA et al., 2019. Genetic Background Modifies Phenotypic And Transcriptional Responses In A C.Elegans Model Of Α-Synuclein Toxicity |
| Autism spectrum disorder | Schmeisser K et al., 2017. A Rapid Chemical-Genetic Screen Utilizing Impaired Movement Phenotypes In C. Elegans: Input Into Genetics Of Neurodevelopmental Disorders |
Sin O, Michels H, Nollen EA. Genetic screens in Caenorhabditis elegans models for neurodegenerative diseases. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2014 Oct;1842(10):1951-1959. doi: 10.1016/j.bbadis.2014.01.015. Epub 2014 Feb 11. PMID: 24525026.
Markaki M, Tavernarakis N. Modeling human diseases in Caenorhabditis elegans. Biotechnol J. 2010 Dec;5(12):1261-76. doi: 10.1002/biot.201000183. Epub 2010 Nov 29. PMID: 21154667.