C. elegans as an Emerging Model of Pharmacological Innovation

As a model organism, the genetically tractable nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has helped revolutionize modern life sciences, e.g. discoveries and applications of programmed cell death, RNA interference (RNAi) and green fluorescent protein (GFP) in the nematodes. In the past decade, C. elegans has been increasingly used as a favorable and affordable in vivo animal model in pharmacological research and drug discovery, including both target and lead identification, disease modeling, and mechanisms of action. Indeed, C. elegans has already shown great power in the evaluation of potential therapeutics at both molecular and organismal levels owing to its short lifespan, relative simplicity and high degree of experimental tractability as well as significant conservation of disease genes and signaling pathways with humans. For instance, many transgenic C. elegans strains expressing human disease proteins have been generated to model neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer, Parkinson and Huntington diseases, and have been used to screen for pharmacologically active compounds and to study their mechanisms of action. These studies not only exemplify the superiority of C. elegans in animal-based high-throughput screening but also provide an insight into the mechanisms of candidate compounds, demonstrating its transformative power in translational research for drug discovery and development. Due to its rapid life cycle and short life span, C. elegans can be expediently used to monitor long-term even cross-generational outcomes of pharmacological interventions. On the other hand, C. elegans can also be conveniently used to study the overall efficacy, multitargeting capacity and potential interactions of component herbs of traditional complex formulae as recently demonstrated by formula dissection approaches. To fully unleash the pioneering potential of C. elegans in pharmacology, methodological as well as strategic innovations and their prompt but justified applications, rather than misuses, in pharmacological studies are further needed.

The aim of this article collection is to provide timely updates and state-of-the-art strategies through the expertise of contributing authors to explore the advantages of C. elegans as an alternative animal model in pharmacology. Since every advantage has its disadvantage, it is also our hope that this dedicated topic will assemble pieces of information from exemplary articles and demonstrate what are important in a justified use of a model animal in pharmacological research, which will help to drive a broader yet unerring use of C. elegans in pharmacology and beyond.

This collection will cover all aspects of pharmacology involving C. elegans, including molecular, cellular and organismal pharmacology. We welcome submissions of original research and review articles as well as translational assessment linked to C. elegans models focusing on but not limited to the following fields:
• Aging pharmacology
• Neuropharmacology
• Behavioral pharmacology
• Metabolic pharmacology
• Gut-brain interactions
• Pharmacogenomics
• Epigenetics and epigenome
• Single worm vs population phenotyping
• Disease modeling
• Target discovery
• Drug discovery
• High-throughput screening
• Technology innovation
• Ethnopharmacology