The neurotrophic factor MANF regulates autophagy and lysosome function to promote proteostasis in Caenorhabditis elegans. The neurotrophic factor MANF regulates autophagy and lysosome function to promote proteostasis in Caenorhabditis elegans

Mesencephalic astrocyte-derived neurotrophic factor (MANF) is the only neurotrophic factor to be conserved between C. elegans and humans. MANF is a unique neutrotophic factor, as it is a resident ER protein in cells that express it and has a role in regulating ER stress response to tunicamycin exposure and pathogenic Pseudomonas exposure. We sought to further understand the role of MANF by comparing a deletion allele, an overexpression line, and the wild-type in this RNAseq experiment. Overall design: In order to test the role of MANF, we looked at aging animals - we age-synchronized eggs via bleaching gravid adults and grew worms to adulthood. Adult worms were transferred to new plates daily during reproduction in order to separate adults from their offspring. On 8 days post-hatch, we collected worms and isolated RNA, then the Duke Sequencing Core performed poly-A mRNA enrichment and RNA-sequencing.