With the rapid development of biotechnology, new or improved methods have emerged, such as lipidome analysis of membrane composition, fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) and other methods to measure membrane fluidity in vivo. Among them, FRAP is the most direct method to study molecular dynamics in living cells. As experts in C. elegans research, CD BioSciences offers a variety of innovative techniques to assess C. elegans membrane fluidity to meet each of your specific needs.

The Membrane Homeostasis in C. elegans

Biological membranes are composed mainly of phospholipids, and their homeostasis is a defining characteristic of all cells. The properties of the phospholipid bilayer are influenced by the ratio of saturated to unsaturated fatty acids, with high levels of unsaturated fatty acids promoting membrane fluidity and high levels of saturated fatty acids increasing membrane rigidity. For animals, structural fatty acids (FA) of membranes are predominantly obtained from a highly variable diet and thus maintain membrane homeostasis is a great challenge.

Fig.1 Model of membrane fluidity regulation in C. elegans. (Ruiz M, et al., 2018)

C. elegans primarily uses dietary fatty acids as alternative structural units for nearly 80% of its membrane phospholipids. Due to the high variability in dietary composition and the narrow range of membrane components that maintain membrane homeostasis, C. elegans apparently has robust regulatory mechanisms to adjust FA composition and compensate for dietary changes. Defects in membrane components are associated with many diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, etc. Studies of membrane fluidity in C. elegans can reveal the molecular mechanisms governing membrane dynamics, elucidate the functional consequences of altered fluidity, and gain insight into how these processes affect cellular function, development, aging, and disease.

Our Services

The transparent body of C. elegans allows researchers to directly visualize and analyze the behavior of fluorescently labeled lipids or proteins within the membrane. In addition, the short life cycle, clear anatomical junctions, and ease of genetic manipulation in C. elegans further facilitate the study of the regulation and outcome of membrane fluidity alterations. CD BioSciences offers a variety of C. elegans membrane fluidity assessment services using advanced technology and extensive experience, including but not limited to:

• Fluorescence Recovery After Photobleaching (FRAP): FRAP is conducted with confocal laser scanning microscopes. Fluorescent molecules in a specified region within the plasma membrane are photobleached by a high-intensity laser. Then the resulting recovery of fluorescent intensity of bleached regions is monitored and plotted on a recovery curve, which is finally quantified so that the mobility of the fluorescent molecules within the membrane can be measured.
• Fluorescent Probes: Fluorescent probes sensitive to mobility changes are incorporated into the membrane to assess C. elegans membrane mobility changes. Such as DPH, Laurdan or DiIC18.
• Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (FCS): FCS uses fluctuations in fluorescence intensity to quantify the diffusion properties of fluorescently labeled molecules, enabling measurement of the mobility of fluorescent molecules within membranes.
• Lipidomics: Membrane mobility is closely related to lipid composition, and analysis of C. elegans lipid profiles provides insight into the type and abundance of lipids within membranes, enabling indirect measurements of membrane mobility.

Why Choose Us?

Membrane fluidity is essential for cellular processes such as membrane protein function, signal transduction, membrane transport and cell motility. CD Biosciences offers you a variety of methods to evaluate C. elegans membrane fluidity. We are dedicated to assisting our customers to explore the mechanisms of membrane fluidity in C. elegans and even in human cells and related diseases. If you are interested in this area, please contact us. We are glad to cooperate with you.

Reference

1. Ruiz M, Bodhicharla R, Svensk E, et al. Membrane fluidity is regulated by the C. elegans transmembrane protein FLD-1 and its human homologs TLCD1/2[J]. Elife, 2018, 7: e40686.

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