Supplementary video 5.1: Mitochondria in the tail of a degron::unc-116;somatic tir1 control (untreated) worm

The data relates to the PhD thesis titled: Investigating kinesin-1 cargo dynamics and systemic effects of kinesin-1 loss in Caenorhabditis elegans.

The motor protein kinesin-1 is responsible for transporting cellular cargoes such as organelles, proteins and RNA to their correct locations within cells. The kinesin-1 homolog in the model organism C. elegans is known as UNC-116.

The generated C. elegans strain degron::unc-116;somatic tir1 is tagged with an AID* degron tag at the endogenous unc-116 gene. The strain also expresses the F-box protein TIR1. In the presence of auxin or synthetic auxin (K-NAA), the UNC-116 protein is conditionally degraded. Mitochondria is a known cargo of kinesin-1/UNC-116. Thus, the disruption of mitochondrial movement upon K-NAA treatment can both confirm that the degron system is working and provide insights into the role of kinesin-1/UNC-116 in mitochondrial movement.

The video shows mitochondria in a section of the tail of a control (untreated) degron::unc-116;somatic tir1 worm. Mitochondria are visualised with Mitotracker. When compared to supplementary video 5.2, it becomes clear that there is more mitochondrial movement in control worms, and that K-NAA treatment thus leads to disrupted mitochondrial movement. The images are captured using a 3i Lattice Light Sheet microscope.