Notably, both behaviors are optimized for intense ultraviolet/purple light, but not wavelengths of the visible spectrum. Interestingly, high-energy UV and blue wavelength light trigger an escape behavior and a pharyngeal pumping (feeding) inhibition in C. elegans has identified the LITE-1 taste receptor homolog as a UV-specific photoreceptor totally distinct from other photoreceptors found in metazoans, microbes, and plants 1. Historically, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans was believed to lack the ability to sense light due to the absence of a bona fide photoreceptor system and its original isolation in soil samples. This study reveals that transparent nematodes are sensitive to visible light radiation and highlights the need to standardize methods for controlling the unrecognized biased effect of light during lifespan studies in laboratory conditions.įrom plants to mammals, the ability to sense light is a ubiquitous feature of organisms that serves a broad range of functions including energy synthesis, DNA repair, modulation of circadian rhythms, and informing on the environment. Finally, we find that long-lived mutants are more resistant to light stress, as well as wild-type worms supplemented pharmacologically with antioxidants. While circadian control, lite-1 and tax-2 do not contribute to the lifespan reduction, we demonstrate that visible light creates photooxidative stress along with a general unfolded-protein response that decreases the lifespan. elegans lifespan is inversely correlated to the time worms were exposed to visible light.
Because high-dose UV and blue-violet light are not a common feature outside of the laboratory setting, we asked what role, if any, could low-intensity visible light play in C.
The transparent nematode Caenorhabditis elegans can sense UV and blue-violet light to alter behavior.
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