Current Genomics - Volume 3, Issue 2, 2002

C. elegans is entering the postgenomic era, which is expected to provide an unprecedented basis for a functional description of this simple model organism at the gene level. Reviews by G. Jansen on gene inactivation in C. elegans, F. Piano and K. Gunsalus on RNAibased functional genomics in C. elegans, JF. Rual et al. on the C. elegans interactome mapping project., V. Reinke on defining development through gene expression pr Read More

Reverse genetics in Caenorhabditis elegans has had an enormous boost in the last decade. From the mere ability to inactivate genes and make transgenic animals in the late 1980s or early 1990s, this field has evolved to genome wide approaches that aim to inactivate all C. elegans genes and determine all expression patterns. Since this luxury position has not yet been attained, we still have to go through these experiment Read More

Characterizing the functions of the many genes discovered by the sequencing projects is now the primary focus of genome-scale studies. Although sequence or structure-based comparisons are helping to generate hypotheses on the biochemical functions of many gene products, determining the in vivo role(s) for large sets of genes remains a critical objective. RNA interference (RNAi) offers a rapid way to gain a first look at los Read More

With the near availability of a cloned Caenorhabditis elegans ORFeome, the development of a high-throughput worm interactome mapping project has now become feasible. After reviewing the increasing interest for C. elegans as a model organism, from ”classical“ biology to the post-genomic era, this article presents the early steps accomplished for the generation of a C. elegans protein interaction map using the twohybrid sys Read More

For an ever-increasing number of species, the completed genomic sequence is available, providing a means to identify all the genes encoded in a genome. The functional relationships between these genes must be defined in order to generate a cohesive understanding of the molecular events that direct metazoan development. The model organism C. elegans, with its completed genomic sequence, defined cell lineage and rob Read More

Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) allows exhaustive analysis of animal biology, in detail once thought possible only for microbial organisms. This detail includes the entire cellular lineage from egg to adult, the complete adult cell complement, a full wiring diagram of the nervous system, and several hundred gene mutants that produce classical phenotypes. With the rise of genomic sequencing and functional genomics, analysi Read More