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Trends in Genetics,
1998]
On 1 August 1997, US Vice President Gore officially announced the creation of a new World Wide Web database which aims to provide powerful new resources to researchers investigating the molecular basis of cancer...
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Bioessays,
1999]
Developmental biology has almost come full circle. Initially aimed at description at the organismal level, in the last 25 years it has zoomed in on individual genes that are involved in specific steps in development. Now, complete genome sequences are becoming available--and to gain a full understanding of the relevance of the complete genome, experimental developmental biology will hold centre stage again, but now armed with large genome databases, and with a new set of refined genetic tools. The first multicellular organism to be sequenced is the nematode C. elegans. This review aims to recognise some new avenues in C. elegans experimental biology that are opened by the genome sequence.
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Wiley Interdiscip Rev Dev Biol,
2012]
This review aims to provide an overview of the technologies which make the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans an attractive genetic model system. We describe transgenesis techniques and forward and reverse genetic approaches to isolate mutants and clone genes. In addition, we discuss the new possibilities offered by genome engineering strategies and next-generation genome analysis tools.
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Med Sci (Paris),
2012]
During the last decade, studies aimed at investigating genes and molecular pathways involved in aging have been very fruitful and led to the identification of several mechanisms responsible for aging. Overall, those results put forward the capacity of cells and organisms to sense and respond to stress, as a critical factor for a healthy and long life. Those molecular pathways are tightly linked with the overall metabolism of an organism. Indeed, environmental stresses trigger a plethora of defense mechanisms which are energy demanding while still the organism has to allocate energy for the maintenance of basic functions. So all along our life, we have to adapt to different stresses while optimizing energy use. This review aims at highlighting data from the literature that support the crucial role of metabolism as a modulator of aging and age-associated disease, as illustrated by the beneficial effect of dietary restriction on longevity and cancer development.
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Biogerontology,
2000]
In the developing field of biological gerontology, rapid advances have recently been made in the genetics of ageing in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. The aim of this work is to develop an understanding of the general mechanisms determining the ageing process. Within the last decade the prospect of actually achieving this somewhat hubristic aim has begun to look startlingly real. In this context, knowledge of every aspect of the biology of ageing in nematodes is of added interest. Here the patterns of ageing observed among parasitic and free-living nematodes are surveyed and compared. Like insects, nematode species exhibit enormous differences in the rate of ageing, with maximum life spans varying over more than a 1000-fold range, from three days in free-living Rhabdias bufonis adults, to at least 15 years in the filarial parasite Loa loa. The possible evolutionary and mechanistic causes of such differences in ageing are discussed.
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Methods Cell Biol,
1995]
This chapter has two aims. First, we describe one method, the electropharyngeogram (EPG), insufficient detail that a Caenorhabditis elegans researcher unfamiliar with electrophysiological methods could set up the apparatus and get useful results. Second, we describe more generally for researchers familiar with electrophysiological methods how they may be applied to C. elegans. We do not describe methods for electrophysiological investigation of C. elegans sperm.
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Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science,
1910]
Orley divided the Nematoda into three groups, roughly corresponding to differences of habitat found in the phylum. (1) Nematozoa embracing all parasitic forms, (2) Rhabditiformae which live free in "decomposing organic substances or in earth saturated with such substances", and (3) Anguillulidae, the rest of the free-living nematodes, found in soil or water. Such a classification, grounded on ecology, pays no attention to the facts of morphology, and is naturally out of place in zoological arrangement, which aims at expressing the relationship of animals by descent.
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Cell Tissue Res,
2006]
The aim of this review is to introduce the reader to Caenorhabditis elegans as a model system, especially with respect to studies of synapse formation and function. We begin by giving a short description of the structure of the nervous system of C. elegans. As most of the findings that are reviewed here have emerged from studies of neuromuscular junctions (NMJs), two prominent NMJs of C. elegans will be outlined briefly. In addition, we summarize new findings that have added to our understanding of NMJs during the last few years.
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Annu Rev Genomics Hum Genet,
2015]
The modENCODE (Model Organism Encyclopedia of DNA Elements) Consortium aimed to map functional elements-including transcripts, chromatin marks, regulatory factor binding sites, and origins of DNA replication-in the model organisms Drosophila melanogaster and Caenorhabditis elegans. During its five-year span, the consortium conducted more than 2,000 genome-wide assays in developmentally staged animals, dissected tissues, and homogeneous cell lines. Analysis of these data sets provided foundational insights into genome, epigenome, and transcriptome structure and the evolutionary turnover of regulatory pathways. These studies facilitated a comparative analysis with similar data types produced by the ENCODE Consortium for human cells. Genome organization differs drastically in these distant species, and yet quantitative relationships among chromatin state, transcription, and cotranscriptional RNA processing are deeply conserved. Of the many biological discoveries of the modENCODE Consortium, we highlight insights that emerged from integrative studies. We focus on operational and scientific lessons that may aid future projects of similar scale or aims in other, emerging model systems.
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Annu Rev Phytopathol,
1990]
In the last 20 years a scientific community has evolved to exploit the soil nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as a model system for studying how an animal's genes specify its development and behavior. Initially, a great deal of descriptive work was needed to define these processes, and now the information is being used to design and interpret experiments aimed at understanding the basic mechanisms underlying cellular function. The number of investigators studying this nematode has grown exponentially, so that more than 1000 papers on Caenorhabditis appeared in the literature by the end of 1988. A total of 90 papers were published from 1950-1970, aimed primarily at understanding the growth and physiology of this nematode. By contrast, nearly 100 research papers and reviews were published in 1989 alone, and in the decade ahead more will be learned about C. elegans than all other nematodes combined. The adoption of this organism by Sydney Brenner in 1965 as a laboratory model to study the nervous system was the key development. He trained many of the leading researchers in the field, and his influence is reflected in virtually every aspect of the biology of C. elegans.