Experimental Proposal for Identifying the Role of Erythroid-Like Transcription Factor-2 in Caenorhabditis elegans

Initially it was believed that when ELT-2 was knocked out in nematodes this caused the nematodes to become sick from all pathogens, even ones that were not previously pathogenic. However, an experiment conducted later suggested that in older cultures of bacteria the ELT-2 knocked out nematodes do not become sick from pathogens that were previously nonpathogenic. In order to clarify the role of ELT-2 in the immune system of nematodes this research proposal was developed. To prepare the nematode stocks, nematodes will be separated into two groups, ones with ELT-2 knocked out and ones with active ELT-2 transcription factors. Then, cultures of bacteria (Salmonella enterica, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterococcus faecalis) will be made with one of three varied lengths of incubation (24 hours, 48 hours, or 72). Then nematodes will be exposed to bacterial cultures nematodes in order to test their survival rate. Statistical analysis will first involve comparing the length of survival of ELT-2 knocked out nematodes to nematodes with active ELT-2 that were grown in the presence of the same bacteria. Second, analysis will involve comparing length of survival of nematodes to how long the bacteria were incubated. This experiment is designed to further understand the role of ELT-2 in the immune function of nematodes. Because of the similarity between ELT-2 in nematodes and transcription factors found in humans this experiment will indirectly help contribute to the greater knowledge of transcription factors in many organisms, including humans.