Automated Acquisition of C. elegans Survival Curves with a Flatbed Scanner

描述（由申请人提供）：生命系统中发生的反应性化学物质和分子过程导致信息和物理损伤的积累，尽管有修复机制。随着时间的推移，这种磨损导致疾病和死亡的可能性越来越大，这被称为衰老。破坏性事件的随机性质导致了个体的表型差异，即使他们在基因上相同并共享相同的环境。这种差异导致了反映基因型的寿命分布。因此，等基因个体群体的完整生存曲线是对基因进行分类的有力工具，因为它们对衰老的影响。该提案旨在开发一种自动化、廉价和强大的系统，以获得线虫的高分辨率生存曲线。该提案将通过采用商用平板扫描仪对大型蠕虫种群进行长期成像和开发适当的图像处理软件来实现这一目标。通过对四种广泛研究的寿命延长突变体与传统的人工程序进行比较，将验证新方法。该方法对RNA干扰研究的适用性将通过类似的比较进行评估。这样一个自动化系统将对衰老研究产生广泛的影响，它揭示了遗传和环境对生存的微妙影响，促进了我们对主要衰老过程的理解。公共卫生相关性：基因相同个体的生存曲线是研究衰老的有力工具。一个自动化的、廉价的、强大的系统，可以获得大型蠕虫（秀丽隐杆线虫）种群的高分辨率生存曲线，通过揭示微妙的遗传和环境对生存的影响，促进我们对物种间保守的主要衰老途径的理解，将对衰老研究产生广泛的影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Reactive chemicals and molecular processes occurring in living systems lead to the accumulation of informational and physical damage despite repair mechanisms. This wear-and-tear results in a growing likelihood of disease and death with time, referred to as aging. The random nature of damaging events contributes to the phenotypic divergence of individuals, even when they are genetically identical and share the same environment. This divergence results in a distribution of life spans that is reflective of the genotype. The complete survival curve of a population of isogenic individuals is therefore a powerful tool for classifying genes with regard to their impact on aging. The proposal aims at developing an automated, inexpensive, and robust system for obtaining high-resolution survival curves of the nematode C. elegans. The proposal will achieve this objective by adapting commercial flatbed scanners for long-term imaging of large worm populations and developing appropriate image processing software. Validation of the new method will occur by comparison with traditional manual procedures on four widely studied lifespan- extension mutants. The method's suitability for RNA interference studies will be assessed using similar comparisons. Such an automated system will have broad impact on the study of aging by revealing subtle genetic and environmental effects on survival that advance our understanding of major aging processes. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The survival curve of genetically identical individuals is a powerful tool in the study of aging. An automated, inexpensive, and robust system for obtaining high-resolution survival curves of large worm (C. elegans) populations will have broad impact on the study of aging by revealing subtle genetic and environmental effects on survival that advance our understanding of major aging pathways conserved across species.