Lifespan Analysis: Measuring C. elegans Longevity

Abstract

Source: Cornwell, A. B., et al. The Replica Set Method: A High-throughput Approach to Quantitatively Measure Caenorhabditis elegans Lifespan. J. Vis. Exp. (2018).

This video describes a traditional, plate-based method of measuring the lifespan of C. elegans. The example protocol measures the lifespan of worms treated with RNAi.

Protocol

The following protocol is an excerpt from Cornwell et al, The Replica Set Method: A High-throughput Approach to Quantitatively Measure Caenorhabditis elegans Lifespan, J. Vis. Exp. (2018).

1. Preventing progeny production by the addition of 5-Fluoro-2'-deoxyuridine (FUdR)

1. Grow animals until L4 stage at 20 °C. Check to see whether synchronized animals have developed to L4 approximately 40 h after seeding (step 2.1.7).
   NOTE: C. elegans....

Results

Figure 1: The Traditional and the Replica Set Method for scoring C.elegans lifespan (A). The Traditional Method for scoring C. elegans lifespan. Several small synchronized populations of isogenic animals per condi.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
FuDR (5-Fluoro-2'-deoxyuridine)	Alfa Aesar	L16497
24 Well Culture Plates	Greiner Bio-One	#662102
600 µL 96-well plates	Greiner Bio-One	#786261
2mL 96-well plates	Greiner Bio-One	#780286
96-pin plate replicator	Nunc	250520
C. elegans RNAi clone library in HT115 bacteria- Ahringer	Source Bioscience	C. elegans RNAi Collection (Ahringer)	See also Kamath et. al, Nature 2003.
C. elegans RNAi clone library in HT115 bacteria- Vidal	Source Bioscience	C. elegans ORF-RNAi Resource (Vidal)	See also Rual et. al, Genome Research 2004. This library is also available from Dharmacon.
L4440 Empty Vector Plasmid	Addgene	1654	https://www.addgene.org/1654/