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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2025.09.14.676146

High-throughput developmental assay of cold tolerance in Caenorhabditis elegans

Peake, A. L.·Jhaveri, N. S.·Andersen, E. C.·Stinchcombe, J. R.
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Abstract

Temperature can impose strong selection causing thermal tolerance variation between individuals, populations, and species. We developed a high-throughput larval development assay for cold tolerance in the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans. We exposed animals to 4{degrees}C cold treatments for either 12 or 24 hours. Animals exposed to the 24-hour cold treatment exhibited greater variation and heritability in cold tolerance during the L1 larval stage. The high-throughput approach that we developed is easily scalable to simultaneously measure a large number of strains, which makes it ideal for studying the genetics and evolution of cold tolerance in Caenorhabditis nematodes.

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Peake, A. L., Jhaveri, N. S., Andersen, E. C., Stinchcombe, J. R.. 2025-09-16. High-throughput developmental assay of cold tolerance in Caenorhabditis elegans. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.09.14.676146

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