Living

The increased number of the aging human population gives rise to increased disease susceptibility. A significant focus of our research is to uncover mechanisms that regulate the aging process in neurons. Recent findings of neurodegeneration highlighted the importance of post-transcriptional gene regulation, including those controlled by RNA binding proteins (RBPs). Because RBPs are critical regulators of gene expressions in the nervous system, we seek to understand the role of conserved RBPs in maintaining neuronal structural integrity in adult Caenorhabditis elegans. The transparency of the animal’s body enables us to perform live imaging to visualize the gene activity. I fluorescently tagged one of the conserved RBPs we found to play critical roles in neurodegeneration using the CRISPR technique, allowing us to perform quantitative analysis under different mutant backgrounds. The image displays RBP expression in the head neurons and spindle-shaped muscle cells wrapped around the body. With this application, we aim to elucidate mechanisms by which RBP controls age-related neurodegeneration and could provide novel mechanistic insights into the regulatory process of neurodegeneration that has not been characterized before.