The Effect of Caffeine on Nematode Growth and Survival Amongst

A. Oligospora

The uses of C. elegans for toxicology reports and assays have proven
to be very useful due to the extensively mapped genome. In addition, C.
elegans contain a transparent cuticle allowing for observation of various
endpoints without dissection. The brood size of C. elegans has been shown
to be an effective indicator of rodent lethality in chemical screenings for
toxicology (Ferreira et al., 2014). Caffeine was tested as a drug variable that
tested as being the least toxic substance in the worms (Ferreira et al., 2014).
In fact, caffeine has been shown to increase life span in C. elegans by
promoting resistance to proteotoxic stress. Caffeine was shown to delay ageassociated paralysis, thus prolonging mobility, and delays in polyglutamineassociated pathology. When polyglutamaine chains are expressed in the
body wall muscles of C. elegans, they become paralyzed. However, caffeine
was able to delay the onset of paralysis, but did not extend life span
(Sutphin et al., 2012). While caffeine has show to positively affect C.
elegans, it creates an acidic soil environment. At pH 8.0, intracellular
proteolytic activity of A. oligospora was inhibited by serine protease inhibit
PMSF (Persson, Friman, 1993). This is important to note as A. oligospora
captures and digests nematodes by degradation of nematode cuticle by
proteases. In addition, proteases play a role in the degradation of nematode
proteins. Thus, the weakly acidic environment created by caffeine would not
be expected to inhibit protease activity. In this experiment the effect of

caffeine on worm capture by A. oligospora was observed. I hypothesize that

there will be more worm capture observed in the environment containing
caffeine. As a result of both enhanced mobility for C. elegans and lack of
inhibition for proteolytic activity, I expect there to be a higher percentage of
worm capture when compared to the control that does not contain caffeine.