*4.1. C. elegans Maintenance*

The wild type*C. elegans* strain N2 (var. Bristol), the transgenic*C. elegans* strain OW13 (grk-1(ok1239); pkIs2386 [unc-54p::α-synuclein::YFP + unc-119(+)]) as well as the *Escherichia coli* feeding strain OP50 were obtained from the Caenorhabditis Genetics Centre (CGC, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA). The *C. elegans* strain UA44 (baIn11[Pdat-1::α-synuclein, Pdat-1::GFP]) was kindly provided by the Caldwell laboratory (University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA) [107]. All nematodes were

maintained on standard nematode growth medium (NGM) agar plates at 22 ◦C, seeded with OP50 according to Brenner [108]. Prior to all tests, synchronized *C. elegans* populations were obtained by dissolving young adults in a 3% sodium hypochlorite solution according to Stiernagle [109]. The obtained eggs hatched in M9 buffer overnight, and were transferred to new NGM plates the following day. About 48 h later, L4 larvae were transferred to treatment and control plates. In order to inhibit the reproduction, 100 μM 5-fluoro-2-deoxyuridine (FUdR) was added to each plate [110].
