Adapting Caenorhabditis elegans to evaluating functional foods and ingredients for cholesterol absorption.

The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is an excellent model organism for elucidating higher life phenomena. C. elegans and humans are common in many aspects.

The small GTPase RAB-18 is involved in regulating development/diapause by recruiting the intestinal cholesterol transporter NCR-1 onto the apical side in Caenorhabditis elegans.

RAB family proteins, which are small GTPases, are integral to the process of eukaryotic membrane trafficking. In the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans, 31 RAB proteins have been identified through genome sequencing. Using an RNAi screen specifically targeting C.