From owner-celegans@net.bio.net Mon Jun 30 23:00:00 1997 Path: biosci!mitosis.wustl.edu!bwaterst From: bwaterst@mitosis.wustl.edu (Bob Waterston) Newsgroups: bionet.celegans Subject: Re: use of celegans Date: 1 Jul 1997 15:28:15 -0700 Organization: BIOSCI International Newsgroups for Molecular Biology Lines: 94 Sender: daemon@net.bio.net Distribution: world Message-ID: <199707012225.RAA10219@watson.wustl.edu> References: <33B9716E.64C3@po-box.mcgill.ca> Reply-To: bwaterst@watson.wustl.edu NNTP-Posting-Host: net.bio.net Answers t oyour questions are below: From: dplant@PO-BOX.MCGILL.CA (Caroline Julien) Date: 1 Jul 1997 11:04:32 -0700 Sender: daemon@net.bio.net Nntp-Posting-Host: net.bio.net Content-Type: text Content-Length: 815 I am a journalist of "Qu=E9bec Science" a Canadian scientific magazine. The= = subject of the paper I am preparing is laboratory animals. I will present = some animals that are used in research, the c elegans for example. I = would be very happy if you tell me: 1. Why you choose to use this animal in your research activities. = Because it is an animal with most of the various tissues we associate with mammals, but is very much simpler and highly amenable to experimental study. Its short life cycle and large brood sizes allow quite powerful genetic approaches, probably the most powerful genetic system among animals. The genome is small so that molecular analysis of genes is facilitated. This has also allowed us to complete the physical map of the chromosomes and we are almost through sequencing the entire DNA complement. Finally it is transparent throughout its life cycle so that the full series of divisions that give rise to the 959 somatic cells of the adult are known and every cell type is described. 2. Are there incovenients to use this nematode There is no tissue culture. And the small size (~1mm) has inhibited neurophysiology. 3. How do you like your c elegans? Do you become infatuated with this = animal???! = I am infatuated with the system. I'm not sure about the animals. 4. Where do you find your nematods Free liiving (nonparasitic) nematodes are ubiquitous in soils throughout the world. Originally the nematode that gave rise to the laboratory strain was obtained from a compost heap in Bristol, England. Now all the lab strains derive from a single siolate that Sydney Brenner selected in the 60's. 5. Is c elegans have futur in the laboratories The similarity of C. elegans genes to human genes (and other animal genes), the power of the experimental system and the excellent community of scientists studying the 'worm' should ensure a bright future for the field as long as genes are studied. 6. Are there famous researches that were done with this nematode Major discoveries have been made in the fields of neurobiology and developmental biology. These include the discovery of the genetic pathway involved in programmed cell death (the same pathway is found in humans and aberrations in it lead to at least one form of cancer); the discovery of the substrate molecules that neorons migrate on to find their targets (nexins); various genes involved in regulating development; the elucidation of the genes/proteins in the ras signalling pathway. In addition systematic study of the C. elegans genome has led the way on genomic studies. When the sequence is complete next year it will be by far the largest genome sequenced and the first animal genome. The methods developed in the study of the worm genome have paved the way for the human genome studies currently underway. 7. Who is Sydney Brenner Brenner is a famous molecular biologist who did his early work on bacteria and bacteriophage. He played a part in discovering the existence of mRNA as an intermediate between DNA and protein; he showed in an elegant series of genetic experiments that the DNA code used 3 bases (the triplet code); he demonstrated for the first time that the order of DNA bases in the gene corresponded with the order of amino acids in proteins (the colinearity of DNA and proteins). Having made these very fundamental discoveries in the late 50's and early 60's he set out to study the more complicated phenomena of animals and selected C. elegans as teh ideal animal for such studies. Almost all the workers in the field can trace their heritage to him, that is they have either worked directly with Sydney, or worked with one of his intellectual offspring. I hope this is useful. Thank you for your consideration, Caroline Julien dplant@po-box.mcgill.ca tel. 514 272 7064 fax. 514 272 7223 Adress: = 7717 Henri-Julien Montreal, Que Canada H2R 2B6 .