Exposome, Molecular Pathways and One Health: The Invertebrate <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i>
Due to its preferred habitats in the environment, the free-living nematode <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i> has become a realistic target organism for pollutants, including manufactured nanoparticles. In the laboratory, the invertebrate animal model represents a cost-effective tool to inves...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-08-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Molecular Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/23/16/9084 |
| Summary: | Due to its preferred habitats in the environment, the free-living nematode <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i> has become a realistic target organism for pollutants, including manufactured nanoparticles. In the laboratory, the invertebrate animal model represents a cost-effective tool to investigate the molecular mechanisms of the biological response to nanomaterials. With an estimated number of 22,000 coding genes and short life span of 2–3 weeks, the small worm is a giant when it comes to characterization of molecular pathways, long-term low dose pollutant effects and vulnerable age-groups. Here, we review (i) flows of manufactured nanomaterials and exposition of <i>C. elegans</i> in the environment, (ii) the track record of <i>C. elegans</i> in biomedical research, and (iii) its potential to contribute to the investigation of the exposome and bridge nanotoxicology between higher organisms, including humans. The role of <i>C. elegans</i> in the one health concept is taken one step further by proposing methods to sample wild nematodes and their molecular characterization by single worm proteomics. |
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| ISSN: | 1661-6596 1422-0067 |