Behavioral fingerprints predict insecticide and anthelmintic mode of action.

Novel invertebrate-killing compounds are required in agriculture and medicine to overcome resistance to existing treatments. Because insecticides and anthelmintics are discovered in phenotypic screens, a crucial step in the discovery process is determining the mode of action of hits. Visible whole-organism symptoms are combined with molecular and physiological data to determine mode of action.

Comparative metabolism of xenobiotic chemicals by cytochrome P450s in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans.

We investigated the metabolic capabilities of C. elegans using compounds whose metabolism has been well characterised in mammalian systems. We find that similar metabolites are produced in C.

The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as a tool to predict chemical activity on mammalian development and identify mechanisms influencing toxicological outcome.

To determine whether a C. elegans bioassay could predict mammalian developmental activity, we selected diverse compounds known and known not to elicit such activity and measured their effect on C. elegans egg viability.