The human microbiome is now widely recognized as a great influence in the human body, accounting for more cells in the average person than do human cells, affecting metabolism and health significantly. The workings of aging could easily be affected by the nature of the host*s microbiome, Prebiotics are chemicals, often carbohydrates, that only certain beneficial gut bacteria such as Lactobacilli can digest, allowing for greater health. C. elegans is a small nematode useful for its homologues to human genes, possession of a nervous system, and ease of growing. C. elegans worms also autofluoresce red at a rate commensurate to their remaining lifespan. There has been lindie effort spent on investigating the effects of prebiotics on aging, and no cffort spent on investigating the effects of prebiotics in C, elegans in particular. By lesting the effects of prebiotics on aging, measured by red autofluorescence, in C. elegans given a simple microbiome consisting of E. coli and L. acidophilux, new insights on prebiotics, the microbiome, or aging could be gained.

I hypothesize that the quantity of Nutraflora P9S (a prebiotic) given to C. elegans will directly correlate with a decrease in aging (which is marked by the rate of increase in red autofluorescence) in C. elegans with a simulated microbiome of E. coli and L. acidophilus

Three batches of 12 agar plates were created, containing a mixture of nematode growth medium (NGM) agar and tomato juice-yeast extract-milk medium, seeded with K12 E. coli and L. acidophilus. Each of the three batches contained 0%, 0.5%, and 1% Nutraflora P95 by mass, respectively. All agar plates additionally contained 59.4 UL FUDR, an egg laying inhibitor, diluted to 150 MM. A fluorescent microscope was also obtained to measure fluorescence.

Worms were raised on a plain NGM agar plate seeded with E. coli at 25 °C in a dark, cool environment. 25 adult worms were taken from the plate and transferred to a clean NGM agar plate seeded with E. coli. After 24 hours, in which time the adult woms would mate and lay eggs, all adult worms were removed from the plates, leaving only time-synchronized eggs, cach of the same age. Three time-synchronized worms were transferred to each of the plates in the four batches of 12 agar plates. Using the fluorescent microscope, regular and fluorescent pictures of worms on each plate were taken daily. Before viewing worms, their movement was slowed or stopped using a 5-minute period spent at O'C. Worm photos were taken with an exposure of 33 ms for visible light photos and 300 ms for fluorescent photos.

On the 6-day photographs, all types of plates had nearly equal fluorescence. On the 9-day photographs, after three days of aging, control averages were noticeably less than 0.5%-probiotic averages. However, these measurements were for an extremely small set of data, due to an inability to find and photograph worms quickly or clearly. The end result is that no conclusion can be made one way or the other. To combat this, future studies could utilize single-worm agar pads, whose thinness reduces background fluorescent microbiome, or use an organism whose digestive system more closely resembles that of humans.