-
[
Nature,
1992]
Supporters of large DNA sequencing projects will take heart (and find much to learn) from the report by J. Sulston and colleagues that appears on page 37 of this issue. Sulston et al. describe the first results of the Caenorhabditis elegans genome sequencing project, and have come up with not only hitherto unknown genes but also with fresh and biologically relevant information.
-
[
Nature,
1987]
The molecular mechanisms responsible for development of metazoan pattern and form are largely unknown. Embryos have been described and experimentally manipulated for more than a century, but only in the past few years have some of the genes and proteins that influence, and perhaps govern, development been isolated and scrutinized. These genes, cloned chiefly from the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster, constitute the 'nuts-and-bolts' of developmental decision-making. The challenge to developmental biologists today is to understand the functions of these genes and to describe them in biochemical terms. Results reported at a recent meeting indicate that some elucidation of development at a molecular level will emerge from investigations of the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans.
-
[
Science,
1991]
The millimeter-long roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans is amassing a sizable research following. As more and more people have joined teh confederation of research efforts loosely called the worm project (see Science, 15 June 1990, p. 1310), the community's biennial meeting has outgrown the traditional watering hole at Cold Spring Harbor. This year, the researchers moved inland for the Eighth International C. elegans Meeting, held June 1-5 on Lake Mendota at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. More than 500 "worm people" turned out to absorb progress reports on the sequencing of the C. elegans genome, the study of its developmental pathways-and some newer topics as well.
-
[
Nature,
2002]
The genomes of animals, plants and fungi seem to be relatively disorganized. Genes appear to be randomly distributed, with only a few exceptions: repeats of similar sequences caused by gene duplications, for example, and a limited number of ancient gene clusters containing functionally related genes (such as the Hox genes that are involved in control of animal development). Apart from these, the average gene is generally assumed to be independent of its neighbours, and genomes are constantly rearranged and shuffled. However, in one group of animals the nematodes (small, unsegmented worms) neighboring genes are occasionally assembled into regulatory units called operons. On page 851 of this issue, Blumenthal et al. now report the first whole-genome characterization of such operons in a mulicellular organism, an raise intriguing questions as to how (and why) they have evolved.
-
[
Nature,
1977]
Participants in two days of talks held at the Accademia Lincei in Rome-the oldest scientific foundatin in the modern world, tried to tackle the ancient problem of how eggs plus genes produce animals. It was symptomatic of the renewed interest in Drosophila that the whole of the first day was devoted to that fly...