Nematodes received from Lionville Elementary!

Cheers to our nematode hunters at Lionville Elementary! Thanks to your hard work we have lots of new strains of nematodes to study!

How many nematodes did Lionville find?

• Our nematode hunters at Lionville Elementary sent us 30 plates of nematodes!
• Of those 30, we were able to get 25 to grow for us in the lab
• Of those 25, 5 showed signs of infection in our tests!

How do we know if the nematodes are infected?

The secret is in their DNA! In our lab we have special nematodes that have been genetically engineered – that means we have changed their DNA. Your DNA is like a blueprint that tells your body how to look and how to work.

For these nematodes, we have taken a piece of DNA from a type of jellyfish that naturally glow green and added it into our nematodes. We put the jellyfish DNA right next to the part of the nematode’s DNA that tells their body what to do when they are sick – so now when they are feeling sick they start to glow!

To see if the wild nematodes sent in have any infections, we mix them together with the special genetically engineered nematodes. If the special nematodes catch any infections from the wild ones, they will start to glow!

Thanks Lionville nematode hunters! We are excited to keep studying the nematodes you sent and learn more about what kind of infections they carry!