An atlas of the C. elegans starvation response reveals that transcription is necessary to initiate transcriptional silencing in quiescent primordial germ cells
- 1Duke University
Abstract
Starvation profoundly impacts development, but how different tissues respond to starvation is unclear. We generated a cellular atlas of gene expression in fed and starved C. elegans L1 larvae. We identified 79 cell types in both conditions, and we detected [~]98% of protein-coding genes, 44% of which were differentially expressed. Starvation affected translation-related genes across the animal, and most "housekeeping" genes were downregulated. However, tissue-specific patterns of differential expression, transcription factor activity, and GO term enrichments are widespread, suggesting tissue-specific gene regulatory mechanisms and functional consequences. We inferred tissue-specific effects on transcription factor activity, identifying known and novel putative nutrient-dependent transcriptional regulators. Surprisingly, we found extensive transcription in starved primordial germ cells (PGCs), which are known to hyper-compact their chromatin and silence transcription during L1 starvation. We validated PGC transcription of aak-1/AMPK, and we showed that zygotic aak-1/AMPK is required for PGC chromatin hyper-compaction, supporting reproductive success upon recovery. This work provides a valuable resource characterizing nutritional control of transcription in an animal, and it reveals that transcription of aak-1/AMPK is necessary to silence transcription in quiescent PGCs.
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BibTeX
@misc{chen2026atlas,
title = {{An atlas of the C. elegans starvation response reveals that transcription is necessary to initiate transcriptional silencing in quiescent primordial germ cells}},
author = {J. Chen and S. Surya and R. Chitrakar and J. R. Valley and M. F. Perez and L. R. Baugh},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.04.749554},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.04.749554v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - An atlas of the C. elegans starvation response reveals that transcription is necessary to initiate transcriptional silencing in quiescent primordial germ cells
AU - J. Chen
AU - S. Surya
AU - R. Chitrakar
AU - J. R. Valley
AU - M. F. Perez
AU - L. R. Baugh
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/04
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.04.749554
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.04.749554v1
AB - Starvation profoundly impacts development, but how different tissues respond to starvation is unclear. We generated a cellular atlas of gene expression in fed and starved C. elegans L1 larvae. We identified 79 cell types in both conditions, and we detected [~]98% of protein-coding genes, 44% of which were differentially expressed. Starvation affected translation-related genes across the animal, and most "housekeeping" genes were downregulated. However, tissue-specific patterns of differential expression, transcription factor activity, and GO term enrichments are widespread, suggesting tissue-specific gene regulatory mechanisms and functional consequences. We inferred tissue-specific effects on transcription factor activity, identifying known and novel putative nutrient-dependent transcriptional regulators. Surprisingly, we found extensive transcription in starved primordial germ cells (PGCs), which are known to hyper-compact their chromatin and silence transcription during L1 starvation. We validated PGC transcription of aak-1/AMPK, and we showed that zygotic aak-1/AMPK is required for PGC chromatin hyper-compaction, supporting reproductive success upon recovery. This work provides a valuable resource characterizing nutritional control of transcription in an animal, and it reveals that transcription of aak-1/AMPK is necessary to silence transcription in quiescent PGCs.
ER -