Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 25, 2026

Isolation and Characterization of the Natural Microbiota of the Model Nematode Caenorhabditis elegans
Published on: August 17, 2022
Advances in sleep research based on the Caenorhabditis elegans: an intestinal microbiota perspective and cutting-edge
Wan-Qi Zhang1, Xiao-Lin Li1, Rui-Peng Xu2
1Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Marine Biology, Department of Biology, College of Science, Shantou University, Shantou, 515063, Guangdong, PR China.
Abstract:
Sleep disorders affect approximately 27 % of the global population, driving non-pharmacological research on gut-brain axis regulation. Understanding sleep mechanisms is crucial, given its profound impact on health and disease. Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) offers a powerful model for dissecting fundamental sleep processes, owing to its compact and fully mapped nervous system, genetic tractability, and suitability for high-throughput screening. This review leverages C. elegans integrated with gene editing, high-throughput behavioral phenotyping, and calcium imaging to dissect gut microbiota's role in sleep modulation. We explore how microbial metabolites regulate sleep via gut-brain pathways and summarize conserved sleep-related molecular mechanisms. The purpose of this review is to decode gut-brain-sleep axis interactions, offering novel mechanistic insights into sleep disorder pathophysiology.
Related Concept Videos
Insufficient Sleep and Sleep Deprivation
Sleep deprivation is a more severe form of sleep loss...
Psychodynamic Perspectives on Personality
Psychodynamic theorists argue that unconscious...
Anatomy of the Intestines
Small Intestines
The small intestine is an ~7 meter-long tube with an inner diameter of just 2.5 cm. Since most nutrients are absorbed here, the inner lining of the...
Stages of Sleep
Before sleep begins, in wakefulness, the brain exhibits primarily beta waves, which are high in frequency and low in amplitude, indicating alertness...
The Behavioral Perspective on Personality
Criticisms of the Evolutionary Perspective
Evolutionary psychology provides one explanation for these findings, suggesting...

