The mammalian PIM family of serine/threonine kinases regulate several cellular functions, such as cell survival and motility. In behavioral studies of C. elegans nematodes, we have observed that the PIM-related kinases (PRKs) are essential for chemotactic movements of the animals in response to olfactory stimuli sensed by AWB and AWCON neurons (Kalichamy et al., 2019). When analyzing prk-deficient mutants,
prk-1(
pk86) and
prk-2(
ok3069), we noticed that in addition to olfaction, their brood size and growth were also negatively affected. Therefore, we have now analysed the prk expression patterns and the pleiotrophic effects of the mutations in more detail. Morphological analyses have revealed that
prk-1 is required for body length, body bends, male tail development and longevity. While a transcriptional fusion reporter of
prk-1 is expressed in head neurons and intestine,
prk-2 is found from posterior parts of the intestine in L2 to L4 larvae and strongly expressed in intestine and seam cells in young adults to adults. Further genetic analyses are underway to fully elucidate the functional roles of PRKs.