TY  - GEN
T1  - The plant terpenoid carvone is a chemotaxis repellent for C. elegans
AU  - Ellington, Clayton T
AU  - Hayden, Andrew J
AU  - LaGrange, Zack B
AU  - Luccioni, Marina D
AU  - Osman, Mohammed AM
AU  - Ramlan, Lauren IE
AU  - Vogt, Miranda A
AU  - Guha, Sujay
AU  - Goodman, Miriam B
AU  - O'Connell, Lauren A
DO  - 10.17912/micropub.biology.000231
UR  - http://beta.micropublication.org/journals/biology/micropub-biology-000231/
AB  - Plants synthesize many structurally diverse organic molecules to interact with the organisms around them. These compounds can act at the receptor level in target organisms to aid the plant in defense or to facilitate a symbiotic relationship (Bahar et al., 2007; Wink, 2018). We have not exhausted these plant-derived secondary metabolites as a source of novel drug therapeutics for pressing human health challenges because screening them for potential function as neuronal actuators is difficult. Here, we explore (1) using C. elegans as an efficient and practical organism for screening plant compounds for potential bioactivity in the nervous system, and (2) using these methods in an undergraduate classroom to bring real scientific discoveries to teaching laboratories. C. elegans are well studied, have essential genetic tools, short generation times, and easy culture techniques (Corsi et al., 2015; O’Reilly et al., 2014). Moreover, C. elegans navigates its environment by relying on chemosensation, triggering chemotaxis in response to odorants (Bargmann, 2006; Margie et al., 2013). These characteristics make it a potentially effective organism for screening phytochemicals and teaching in an undergraduate laboratory setting.
PY  - 2020
JO  - microPublication Biology
ER  -