Figure 3. Characterization of metabolic parameters reveals acs-3(ft5) animals have an increased rate of fatty acid uptake and elevated de novo fatty acid synthesis.

We examined a number of physiological parameters that could impact lipid storage. To assess β-oxidation, we incubated animals in media containing tritiated fatty acids, collected that media and measured amount of tritiated water produced (see methods for more details). We found that acs-3(ft5) animals exhibited an increased rate of β-oxidation (A). Measures of pharyngeal pumping rate and progeny production revealed no differences between wild type and acs-3(ft5) mutants (B-C). To examine fatty acid uptake, we incubated animals in media containing BODIPY-labeled fatty acids for 20 minutes, then measured fluorescence intensity. We found that acs-3(ft5) mutants exhibit more than double the rate of fatty acid uptake observed in wild type animals (D). For panels A-D, data are displayed as a percentage of the wild-type average +/− SEM. ***p < 0.001 compared to wild-type. Using 13C labeling, we found that acs-3(ft5) mutants exhibit a higher percentage of de novo synthesized fatty acids (E). **p<0.01, ***p < 0.001 compared to wild type. GC/MS analysis reveals no substantial changes in fatty acid composition between acs-3(ft5) mutants and wild type animals (F). Data are shown as a percentage of total fatty acid +/− SEM.