Table 3. fat-3(wa22) mutants are sensitive to heavy metal and detergent but not to extreme temperatures.

Strain	Supplemented PUFA	Thermal stress (% alive±s.e.m.)		Heavy metals (% adults±s.e.m)		Detergent (% alive±s.e.m)
		36°C (10 h)	0°C (24 h)	CuSO4 (250 µM)	CdCl2 (30 µM)	Triton X-100 (1%)
Wild-type	none	60.4±3.4	67.0±1.6	79.1±1.5	74.8±2.1	82.8±0.5
fat-3(wa22)	none	96.1±1.7*	87.8±1.0*	67.7±0.9*	63.6±0.7*	26.5±2.3*
	GLA+SDA	90.8±2.0*	80.2±0.4*	84.8±1.4	79.7±2.0	74.8±3.6
	AA	72.4±1.4	86.0±1.1*	75.7±2.2	73.3±1.5	85.6±3.9
	EPA	61.9±1.2	83.2±1.1*	77.7±2.0	73.3±1.5	75.6±4.4
sek-1(km4)	none	63.9±0.5	65.0±1.7	55.0±1.4*	66.4±0.2*	83.0±3.0

The effects of mutations and PUFA supplementations on C. elegans sensitivity to abiotic stresses are shown. Sensitivities to extreme temperatures are depicted as percent of animals alive after the indicated time of exposure to 36°C or 0°C. Metal toxicity results are depicted as the percent of embryos that successfully developed into adults in the presence of the indicated concentrations of copper and cadmium metals. Sensitivity to detergent is shown as percent of worms alive after a 1-h exposure to 1% Triton X-100 solution. *, p≤0.001 compared to wild-type animals; Student's t-test. Abbreviations: AA, arachidonic acid; EPA, eicosapentaenoic acid; GLA, gamma-linolenic acid; SDA, stearidonic acid.