Liquid-culture protocols for synchronous starvation, growth, dauer formation, and dietary restriction of Caenorhabditis elegans

Standard laboratory culture of Caenorhabditis elegans utilizes solid growth media with a bacterial food source. However, this culture method limits control of food availability and worm population density, factors that impact many life -history traits. Here, we describe liquid-culture protocols for precisely modulating bacterial food availability and population density, facilitating reliable production of arrested L1 larvae, dauer larvae, dietarily restricted worms, or well-fed worms. Worms can be grown in small quantities for standard assays or in the millions for other applications.For complete details on the use and execution of these protocols, please refer to Hibshman et al. (2016), Webster et al. (2018), and Jordan et al. (2019).

Automated summary

The standard laboratory culture of Caenorhabditis elegans uses solid growth media with a bacterial food source, which limits control of food availability and worm population density. This study presents liquid-culture protocols for precisely modulating bacterial food availability and population density, allowing for reliable production of different types of worms. The protocols can be used for growing worms in small quantities for standard assays or in large quantities for other applications.