Nematode Synchronization: A Method to Obtain Populations of Worms in Identical Stages of Development

-Begin by placing self-fertilizing worms in their last larval stage on plates seeded with a bacterial food source. Allow the larvae to develop into mature adults until there's an abundance of eggs within worms and laid on the plates. Wash the plates with buffer to collect the eggs and worms.

Next, replace the buffer with bleach solution which dissolves adult worms. Protected by the eggshell, embryos will survive this treatment, though they will be at different stages of development. Then replace the bleach with buffer and allow the embryos to develop. As larvae hatch from their eggshells in the absence of food, development will pause at the first larval stage.

Transfer the larvae to plates with food to resume development. This will stimulate synchronous progression through the remaining larval stages.

When worms reach the last larval stage, move them to plates with food and FUdR, a DNA synthesis inhibitor that prevents the production of offspring. Continued development in the presence of FUdR produces a population of sterile adult worms. In this experiment, we will synchronize a population of the nematode C. elegans.

-To begin, transfer L4 larvae of desired genetic backgrounds onto