Expression of ceramide glucosyltransferases, which are essential for glycosphingolipid synthesis, is only required in a small subset of C. elegans cells.

Glycosphingolipids (GSLs) are glycosylated derivatives of ceramide in the lipid bilayer. Their ubiquitous distribution and complexity suggest that they have important functions, but what these are in vivo is still poorly understood. Here, we characterize the phenotype of Caenorhabditis elegans mutants with essentially no GSLs.

Polyunsaturated fatty acids influence synaptojanin localization to regulate synaptic vesicle recycling.

The lipid polyunsaturated fatty acids are highly enriched in synaptic membranes, including synaptic vesicles, but their precise function there is unknown. Caenorhabditis elegans fat-3 mutants lack long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs); they release abnormally low levels of serotonin and acetylcholine and are depleted of synaptic vesicles, but the mechanistic basis of these defects is unclear. Here we demonstrate that synaptic vesicle endocytosis is impaired in the mutants: the synaptic vesicle protein synaptobrevin is not efficiently retrieved after synaptic vesicles fuse with the presynaptic membrane, and the presynaptic terminals contain abnormally large endosomal-like compartments and synaptic vesicles.

Isolation of Caenorhabditis elegans gene knockouts by PCR screening of chemically mutagenized libraries.

This protocol details methodologies to generate Caenorhabditis elegans deletion mutants by chemical mutagenesis and to detect them by PCR screening. Approximately, 600,000 worms are grown synchronously, mutagenized with ethyl methane sulfonate, divided in groups of 500 and allowed to self-fertilize for two generations. DNA is prepared from a fraction of each worm population, pooled into a 96-well plate, and screened by PCR with primers positioned 2.

Long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids are required for efficient neurotransmission in C. elegans.

The complex lipid constituents of the eukaryotic plasma membrane are precisely controlled in a cell-type-specific manner, suggesting an important, but as yet, unknown cellular function. Neuronal membranes are enriched in long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs) and alterations in LC-PUFA metabolism cause debilitating neuronal pathologies. However, the physiological role of LC-PUFAs in neurons is unknown.