Caenorhabditis Sieve: A Low-tech Instrument and Methodology for Sorting Small Multicellular Organisms

Summary

The current protocol includes a methodology for the sorting and cleaning of age-matched populations of Caenorhabditis elegans. It uses a simple, inexpensive, and efficient custom-made tool to obtain a large experimental population of nematodes for research.

Abstract

Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) is a well-established model organism used across a range of basic and biomedical research. Within the nematode research community, there is a need for an affordable and effective way to maintain large, age-matched populations of C. elegans. Here, we present a methodology for mechanically sorting and cleaning C. elegans. Our aim is to provide a cost-effective, efficient, fast, and simple process to obtain animals of uniform sizes and life stages for their use in experiments. This tool, the Caenorhabditis Sieve, uses a custom-built lid system that threads onto common conical lab tubes and sorts C. elegans based on body size. We also demonstrate that the Caenorhabditis Sieve effectively transfers animals from one culture plate to another allowing for a rapid sorting, synchronizing, and cleaning without impacting markers of health, including motility and stress-inducible gene reporters. This accessible and innovative tool is a fast, efficient, and non-stressful option for maintaining C. elegans populations.

Introduction

The nematode worm, Caenorhabditis elegans, is a premier model organism. In addition to the straightforward and controlled nature of their cultivation in the laboratory, their entire genome is sequenced¹ and the developmental fate of each cell is known². Due to these features, C. elegans is a widely used model organism for genetic studies. However, along with these beneficial characteristics come some challenges for researchers. Due to their rapid generation time, C. elegans populations can quickly run out of food and/or become mixed populations with multiple generations and developmental stages....

Protocol

1. Caenorhabditis Sieve Construction and Use

1. Construction protocol
   1. Acquire 2 lids from 50 mL conical tubes (Figure 1A).
   2. Remove the center area inside the inner lip of the lids (when viewed from the bottom, Figure 1B) using a Bunsen burner and a hot metal probe or a soldering iron or stepped drill bit.
      NOTE: Using heat to cut the plastic lid is preferable to a blade because there is less risk of injury.
   3. Clean and sand the cut edges and top the surface with a curved file or a rotary grinding tool (e.g., Dremel). See

Results

The Caenorhabditis Sieve consists of 2 screw caps, securing an area of woven nylon monofilament mesh smaller than the body diameter of the desired developmental age, used to extract live populations of organisms using a simple washing technique. It attaches to standard conical tubes and uses the mesh screen to mechanically sort animals by body diameter, leaving the desired animals in the tube ready for further maintenance and experimentation (e.g., transfer or genetic ha.......

Discussion

Herein, we introduced the design and use of the accessible, effective Caenorhabditis Sieve as a tool for sorting and maintaining C. elegans. This tool has several advantages to manually picking individual animals, washing populations, chemical treatments (e.g., FUDR), and more expensive methods of segregating animals. First, the Caenorhabditis Sieve efficiently and quickly (less than 20 min) sorts progeny from large mixed populations of animals (Table 2). Also, the use.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Safety glasses	Uline	S-21076
Protective heat resistant glove	Grainger	Item # 3AT17 Mfr. Model # 3AT17 Catalog Page # 1703
50 mL conical tube	Falcon	14-432-22
Synthetic Nylon mesh	Dynamic Aqua-Supply Ltd	NTX20 and NTX50
Cyanoacrylate glue	Scotch Super Glue Liquid	SAD114
Pliers	Vampliers	VMPVT-001-8
Dremmel tool with circular file	Lowe's	Item # 525945 Model # 100-LG
FUDR	Sigma	F0503
M9 chemicals ( NaCl, Na2HPO4, KH2PO4, MgSO4)	Sigma	S7653, RES20908-A7, 1551139, M7506
NGM plate chemicals (Bactopeptone, Agar, KH2PO4, K2HPO4, CaCl2,Cholesterol, Streptomycin)	BD Biosciences (bactopeptone) , Lab express (agar), Sigma ( rest)	BD bioscience 211677, Lab Express 1001,  Sigma 1551139, 1551128, C1016, C8667, S6501
Pluronic F-127	Sigma	P2443
Paraquat dichloride hydrate	Sigma	36541
Inverted fluorescence microscope	Olympus	FSX100