Table 3. RNAi knockdown of candidate genes alters Cesmn-1(lf) neuromuscular defects in the pharyngeal pumping assay.

		Cesmn-1(lf)	+/Cesmn-1(lf)	Cesmn-1(lf)	Cesmn-1(lf)
		% change vs. control RNAi		empty(RNAi)	candidate(RNAi)
Ce gene	Dm gene			Pumps/min
Cesmn-1	Smn	56±19*	101±2	53±9	27±6
plst-1	Fim	86±21*	106±1	53±9	43±8
daf-4	Wit	71±27*	93±2	38±7	26±6
kcnl-2	SK	147±50*	90±1	42±7	48±8
nhr-25	Usp	155±45*	91±5	48±8	67±11

C. elegans orthologs of DmSmn modifier genes whose RNAi knockdown altered Cesmn-1(lf) pharyngeal pumping defects are listed in column 1 and column 2, respectively. The percent (%) change in pumping rates on empty vector RNAi versus candidate gene RNAi was determined independently in four separate experiments and is reported with S.E.M. for both Cesmn-1(lf) homozygous mutant and +/Cesmn-1(lf) heterozygous control animals (columns 3 and 4). As pumping rates for each genotype/treatment varied day-to-day (due to food thickness, etc.), % change versus empty vector RNAi controls is reported and was used to determine significance. The overall pharyngeal pumping rates in columns 5 and 6 were calculated by pooling all Cesmn-1(lf) animals reared with the RNAi bacteria indicated (n>40 animals). Animals were allowed to hatch on bacterial cultures carrying empty RNAi vector (empty) or RNAi constructs targeting C. elegans genes; pumping rates were determined after 3 days at the early adult or late L4 larval stage as illustrated in Figure 2. Significance (indicated with an asterisk) was determined by a two-sample t-test/Mann-Whitney U test according to sample-specific parameters (p≤0.05). Two additional genes that modified growth CG33172/cash-1 and CG18375/ape-1 (Table S2), reached significance here in pair-wise comparisons with controls. However, their knockdown enhanced Cesmn-1(lf) pumping defects in some trials and suppressed in other trials resulting in no significant change in overall pumping rates. See Table S2 for results for all genes tested and Materials and Methods for details.