Expression data from wild type C. elegans and 5 osmotic stress resistant mutants exposed to hyper/isotonic environments

Adaptation of C. elegans to hypertonic environments involves the accumulation of the organic osmolyte glycerol via transcriptional upregulation of the glycerol biosynthestic enzyme gpdh-1. A number of mutants, termed osmotic stress resistant (osr) mutants, have been identified. osr mutants cause constitutive upregulation of gpdh-1 and confer extreme resistance to hypertonicity. We tested the hypothesis that osr mutants broadly activate a gene expression program normally activated by osmotic stress in wild type animals using Affymterix microarray analysis of the hypertonic stress response in wild type animals and of constituitive gene expression changes in five osr mutants.