Been immobilized by levamisole were captured at 60X magnification using a high resolution wide field Core DV system (Applied PrecisionTM; Oregon Health and Sciences University Advanced 10781694 Light Microscopy Core Facility, Portland, OR). Deconvolution-optimized images were used to quantify relative ROS levels by manually enclosing the terminal pharyngeal bulb within each image and obtaining the maximum intensity of the area using ImageJ software (National Institutes of Health). Final ROS levels for each line were calculated as the difference between pharyngeal bulb intensity in labeled and unlabeled control worms from each line.(iii) Measurement of 8-oxodG Levels by Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay (ELISA)We measured oxidative damage in 12-day-old nematodes because oxidative damage in general is more reliably detected in older nematodes [44,45] and significant differences in Title Loaded From File Steady-state 8-oxodG content have been harder to detect in young adult [39] and mixed-stage nematodes [46]. Additionally, our preliminary work with a mutant strain (the mev-1 mutant strain) that has constitutively elevated oxidative stress [47,48] indicated that while steady-state ROS levels were significantly elevated in mev-1 compared to N2 individuals in the young adult stage (S.E., unpubl. results), differences in 8-oxodG were not detected in young adult nematodes (J.J.-M., unpubl. results). Frozen stocks for the MA lines and G0 ancestor were thawed; five individuals from each line were randomly selected to initiate Title Loaded From File biological replicates, which were carried through three generations of single-individual descent in standard conditions and then expanded to a large population and age-synchronized [33]. Upon reaching the L4 larval stage, each population (five populations for each MA line and the G0 ancestor) was transferred to NGM plates containing 40 mM 5-fluoro-29-deoxyuridine (FUdR) to prevent mixing of the focal population with its progeny. FUdR inhibits DNA and RNA synthesis; since most of the cells in an adult nematode are postmitotic, treatment with FUdR inhibits the production of viable progeny and is routinely used in studies of wild-type and mutant nematode strains [38,49,50,51,52]. While FUdR treatment does affect an assortment of metabolic processes in C. elegans [53] and likely alters mitochondrial DNA replication and mitochondrial biogenesis, it is not clear whether FUdR treatment can be expected to alter oxidative stress since it did not alter mitochondrial morphology [54] or antioxidant enzyme expression [55] in(ii) Measurement of Steady-state Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) Levels by Confocal MicroscopyCryogenically preserved stocks of the MA lines (G250) and common ancestor (G0) were thawed and nematodes were allowed to recover for one week under standard laboratory conditions at 20uC, with regular population transfers to fresh 15 mm nematode growth medium (NGM) Petri plates inoculated with OP50-1 Escherichia coli. Two independent, age-synchronous populations of each line were generated by bleaching [33]; half of each population was reserved to create line-specific internal controlRelaxed Selection and Oxidative Stressnematodes. All nematodes were maintained on FUdR-containing plates until they were 12 days old, at which point the nematodes were washed in M9 buffer, flash-frozen and stored at 280uC. To minimize DNA oxidation during sample preparation [56], we used the chaotropic sodium iodide method [57] with a DNA Extractor TIS kit (Wako) with lengthened.Been immobilized by levamisole were captured at 60X magnification using a high resolution wide field Core DV system (Applied PrecisionTM; Oregon Health and Sciences University Advanced 10781694 Light Microscopy Core Facility, Portland, OR). Deconvolution-optimized images were used to quantify relative ROS levels by manually enclosing the terminal pharyngeal bulb within each image and obtaining the maximum intensity of the area using ImageJ software (National Institutes of Health). Final ROS levels for each line were calculated as the difference between pharyngeal bulb intensity in labeled and unlabeled control worms from each line.(iii) Measurement of 8-oxodG Levels by Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay (ELISA)We measured oxidative damage in 12-day-old nematodes because oxidative damage in general is more reliably detected in older nematodes [44,45] and significant differences in steady-state 8-oxodG content have been harder to detect in young adult [39] and mixed-stage nematodes [46]. Additionally, our preliminary work with a mutant strain (the mev-1 mutant strain) that has constitutively elevated oxidative stress [47,48] indicated that while steady-state ROS levels were significantly elevated in mev-1 compared to N2 individuals in the young adult stage (S.E., unpubl. results), differences in 8-oxodG were not detected in young adult nematodes (J.J.-M., unpubl. results). Frozen stocks for the MA lines and G0 ancestor were thawed; five individuals from each line were randomly selected to initiate biological replicates, which were carried through three generations of single-individual descent in standard conditions and then expanded to a large population and age-synchronized [33]. Upon reaching the L4 larval stage, each population (five populations for each MA line and the G0 ancestor) was transferred to NGM plates containing 40 mM 5-fluoro-29-deoxyuridine (FUdR) to prevent mixing of the focal population with its progeny. FUdR inhibits DNA and RNA synthesis; since most of the cells in an adult nematode are postmitotic, treatment with FUdR inhibits the production of viable progeny and is routinely used in studies of wild-type and mutant nematode strains [38,49,50,51,52]. While FUdR treatment does affect an assortment of metabolic processes in C. elegans [53] and likely alters mitochondrial DNA replication and mitochondrial biogenesis, it is not clear whether FUdR treatment can be expected to alter oxidative stress since it did not alter mitochondrial morphology [54] or antioxidant enzyme expression [55] in(ii) Measurement of Steady-state Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) Levels by Confocal MicroscopyCryogenically preserved stocks of the MA lines (G250) and common ancestor (G0) were thawed and nematodes were allowed to recover for one week under standard laboratory conditions at 20uC, with regular population transfers to fresh 15 mm nematode growth medium (NGM) Petri plates inoculated with OP50-1 Escherichia coli. Two independent, age-synchronous populations of each line were generated by bleaching [33]; half of each population was reserved to create line-specific internal controlRelaxed Selection and Oxidative Stressnematodes. All nematodes were maintained on FUdR-containing plates until they were 12 days old, at which point the nematodes were washed in M9 buffer, flash-frozen and stored at 280uC. To minimize DNA oxidation during sample preparation [56], we used the chaotropic sodium iodide method [57] with a DNA Extractor TIS kit (Wako) with lengthened.