Genetic analysis of sensitivity to temperature fluctuations identifies acclimation stress as a novel type of cellular stress in Caenorhabditis elegans

Description

A worm kept at one steady temperature can still suffer when the temperature will not sit still. Lilienfeldt and co-authors found that frequent swings between two mild temperatures sharply cut short-term survival in the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans. The harm grew with the rate of swinging. Both the body and the germline were hit, and death required the animals to be fertile.

Hunting through candidate genes, the team found mutants that fared worse and others that fared better under the swings. The genes involved point to temperature sensing and to the cell's energy factories as key defenses. Reporter genes for the classic stress responses stayed quiet, though, and the mutant pattern did not match any known stress. The authors name the harm acclimation stress and argue it is a distinct kind of cellular stress, one that constant conditions in the lab may have hidden.

Catalog record

Source: https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13535214