SurfWax News Index  |  Track News  |  Save/Exchange Information |  About Us

    News and Articles on Caenorhabditis elegans

    Archives: Caenorhabditis elegans

    Nematode Genome: Evolution Of Parasitism  Sep 22, 2008
    One member of the nematode group has acquired a certain degree of fame: due to its humble lifestyle, small size and quick breeding pattern, Caenorhabditis elegans is one of the most popular animals being used as models in biologists laboratories ... By comparison, the model organism of Caenorhabditis elegans and the human parasite Brugia malayi (whose genome was sequenced in 2007) only have about 20,000 or 12,000 protein-coding genes, respectively ... Surprisingly, the Pristionchus genome also... (Science Daily)

    Novel Anti-cancer Mechanism Found In Long-lived Rodents  Sep 20, 2008
    11, 2006) Using the worm Caenorhabditis elegans, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered a mechanism by which cancer cells become resistant to a specific class of. (Dec. (Science Daily)

    Duke medical team finds genetic link between immune and nerve systems  Sep 20, 2008
    They studied a neural circuit in the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans. "The study of neural-immune communications is quite challenging in mammals," Aballay said. (EurekAlert!)

    Rethinking the Wrinkling: Key Genes Cause Aging  Sep 18, 2008
    Studies on the worm Caenorhabditis elegans have shown that reducing exposure to reactive oxygen species increases life span, and worms that have been bred to live longer are also more resistant to stress. But few studies have definitively linked oxidative damage to altered cellular function. (Scientific American)

    Nature Methods  Aug 29, 2008
    The algorithm weights target-site features based on their enrichment in an experimental dataset and was validated using verified miRNA-mRNA interactions in Caenorhabditis elegans. Research highlights. (Nature News Service)

    Omics Gateway  Aug 29, 2008
    Molecular basis of the copulatory plug polymorphism in Caenorhabditis elegans. Journal:Nature. (Nature News Service)

    Identifying sequence errors in public databases  Aug 28, 2008
    Analyses of predicted EnsEMBL protein sequences of nine deuterostome (Homo sapiens, Mus musculus, Rattus norvegicus, Monodelphis domestica, Gallus gallus, Xenopus tropicalis, Fugu rubripes, Danio rerio and Ciona intestinalis) and two protostome species (Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila melanogaster) have revealed that the absence of expected signal peptides and violation of domain integrity account for the majority of mispredictions. Analyses of sequences predicted by NCBI's GNOMON... (BioMed Central)

    Memory, Depression, Insomnia -- And Worms?  Aug 5, 2008
    Edwards et al. A Novel Molecular Solution for Ultraviolet Light Detection in Caenorhabditis elegans. PLoS Biology, 2008; 6 (8): e198 DOI. (Science Daily)

    Dual-use Sexual Attraction And Population-control Chemicals Found In Nematodes  Aug 2, 2008
    Researchers at the California Institute of Technology have now found a rare kind of signaling molecule in the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans that serves a dual purpose, working as both a population-control mechanism and a sexual attractant ... Caenorhabditis elegans worms have long been a favorite model organism among developmental biologists, in part because of their small size (1 mm long), simple nervous system, and ease of care ... The paper, "A blend of small molecules regulates both... (Science Daily)

    Fish With Temperature-dependent Sex Determination: How Common Are They?  Jul 31, 2008
    3, 2005) The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is a little less lonely than the rest of us it is a self-fertile hermaphrodite, which as a larva makes and stores sperm before switching to egg production. (Apr. (Science Daily)

    Aging may be caused by renegade genes, worm study finds  Jul 26, 2008
    The scientists studied a tiny worm called Caenorhabditis elegans, which is popular in aging studies because it only lives for two weeks. Of the worms' approximately 20,000 genes, 1,256 were regulated differently in young worms versus old worms. (Los Angeles Times)

    Aging May Be Controlled by Brake and Accelerator Genes  Jul 25, 2008
    Scientists have discovered genetic switches in roundworms (Caenorhabditis elegans) whose genetic makeup is remarkably similar to that of humans that apparently cause the spineless critters to grow old when flicked on but, when off, may extend their lives. "This is a new and potentially powerful circuit that has just been discovered," says Brown University biologist , who was not involved in the study. (Scientific American)

    Glia Guide Brain Development In Worms  Jul 25, 2008
    A system unveiled and described by Rockefeller University scientists shows that in the Caenorhabditis elegans worm, neurons live on despite the absence of glia, a landmark discovery that paves the way for scientists to explore the dialogue between these team players in their natural environment. As far as we know, this is the first system where removing glia does not affect neuronal survival, says Shai Shaham, head of the Laboratory of Developmental Genetics, who made the discovery along with... (Science Daily)

    Mate or hibernate? That's the question worm pheromones answer  Jul 25, 2008
    Scientists from the University of Florida, Cornell University, the California Institute of Technology and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have discovered the first mating pheromone in one of science's most well-studied research subjects, the tiny worm Caenorhabditis elegans. But perhaps even more interesting is what the newly discovered pheromone also directs worms to do hibernate. (EurekAlert!)

    Novel nematode transcripts  Jul 13, 2008
    We have applied a high-throughput pyrosequencing technology for transcriptome profiling of Caenorhabditis elegans in its first larval stage. Using this approach, we have generated a large amount of data for expressed sequence tags, which provides an opportunity for the discovery of putative novel transcripts and alternative splice variants that could be developmentally specific to the first larval stage. (BioMed Central)

    Automated Microfluidic Device Reduces Time To Screen Small Organisms For Genetic Studies  Jun 26, 2008
    The new "lab-on-a-chip" can automatically position, image, determine the phenotype of and sort small animals, such as the worm Caenorhabditis elegans that is commonly used for biological studies. "Classical genetic approaches require altering genetic information and monitoring changes in a large number of animals, which can be excruciatingly slow and often requires manual manipulations," said Hang Lu, an assistant professor in Georgia Tech School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. (Science Daily)

    New research on mutation in yeast can enhance understanding of human diseases  Jun 20, 2008
    The researchers asked a fundamental question: "What is the baseline rate and spectrum of mutation in yeast?" They found that, like the previously studied mutations in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae had a very high rate of mutation from generation to generation. Its patterns of mutation, however, turned out to be unique. (EurekAlert!)

    Shelton resident to study with Nobel Prize winning scientist  Jun 14, 2008
    Testing involves a worm called Caenorhabditis elegans, or C. elegans. Morse said scientists like Mello have used these worms to express certain genes they're studying. (Valley News, CT)

    How To Construct A 'Firefly' Worm: Measuring Metabolism Of Entire Organism In Real Time  Jun 7, 2008
    The new altered Caenorhabditis elegans widely used to study human genes lets scientists detect metabolic changes in the exact moment these occur, thus shedding light on the cause behind these changes and contribute to understand C. elegans (and human) genes, as well as the mechanisms behind disease and health ... Lagido et al. Bridging the phenotypic gap: real-time assessment of mitochondrial function and metabolism of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. (Science Daily)

    The Skinny on Fat: You're Not Always What You Eat  Jun 5, 2008
    Ashrafi and his colleagues conducted their research on roundworms (Caenorhabditis elegans), which are genetically similar to ; all the fundamental mechanisms at work in the organism are also found in humans. The team created a number of mutant worms with engineered defects in proteins that serotonin controls; some of the proteins they tampered with affected appetite, others metabolism. (Scientific American)

    'PLoS ONE' STUDY:  A Low Dose of Dietary Resveratrol Partially Mimics Caloric Restriction and Retards Aging Parameters in Mice  Jun 4, 2008
    Bass TM, Weinkove D, Houthoofd K, Gems D, Partridge L (2007) Effects of resveratrol on lifespan in Drosophila melanogaster and Caenorhabditis elegans ... Hansen M, Taubert S, Crawford D, Libina N, Lee SJ, et al. (2007) Lifespan extension by conditions that inhibit translation in Caenorhabditis elegans. (USA Today -- Tech)

    Multicellular Response Is 'All For One'  May 10, 2008
    In addition to Morimoto, other authors of the paper, titled "Regulation of the Cellular Heat Shock Response in Caenorhabditis elegans by Thermosensory Neurons," are Veena Prahlad, a postdoctoral fellow, and Tyler Cornelius, an undergraduate student, both from Northwestern. Adapted from materials provided by , via , a service of AAAS.. (Science Daily)

    Unexpected diversity of cnidarian integrins: expression during coral gastrulation  May 9, 2008
    It has been suggested that Caenorhabditis elegans, which has a single beta and two alpha integrins, might reflect the ancestral integrin complement. Investigation of the integrin repertoire of anthozoan cnidarians such as the coral Acropora millepora is required to test this hypothesis and may provide insights into the original roles of these molecules. (BioMed Central)

    Cell biology: The cellular hullabaloo  May 8, 2008
    Working with Caenorhabditis elegans embryos, van Oudenaarden is examining the type of developmental mutations that are puzzling because they cause an obvious defect in some animals, but leave others intact. His idea is that fluctuations in noisy genes could explain this behaviour, nudging only some embryos down the mutant developmental pathway. (Nature News Service)

    Promising Research On The Susceptibility To And Drug Targets For Parkinson's Disease  Mar 23, 2008
    To gain insight into the cellular processes that play a role in protein misfolding, the research group, led by Ellen Nollen, looked for genes in the round worm Caenorhabditis elegans that, if switched off, cause the number of inclusions to increase. During the course of their research, the scientists individually switched off 17,000 of the 19,000 genes and studied the effect on protein formation. (Science Daily)

    New Anti-cancer Agent Can Overcome Resistance To Drugs, Says Study  Feb 26, 2008
    25, 2008) A new anti-cancer agent that targets breast cancer can overcome resistance to cancer drugs, according to a new study. Many tumours that are initially responsive to chemotherapy can develop resistance to it, allowing the cancer to progress. (Science Daily)

    Worm Defecation Holds Clues To Widespread Cell-to-cell Communication Process  Feb 26, 2008
    In 2002, researchers won the Nobel Prize for Medicine for work in the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) on the genetics of how cells "decide" to self-destruct, a topic now central to human cancer research. Another team won in 2006 for the discovery in C. elegans of an ancient defense mechanism against attempts by viruses to disrupt cells' genetic machinery. (Science Daily)

    New Devices To Boost Nematode Research On Neurons And Drugs  Feb 10, 2008
    The newly reported devices provide a near natural environment for soil-dwelling roundworms (Caenorhabditis elegans, or C. elegans) that measure barely a millimeter in length. The nematodes move normally, but slightly compressed so that highly sensitive microscopes can be used to monitor individual fluorescent-injected neurons in real time during experiments. (Science Daily)

    Washington University increases fleet of Roche Genome Sequencer FLX Systems  Feb 8, 2008
    As part of the early access program, the Genome Sequencing Center plans to resequence several strains of Caenorhabditis elegans, a small nematode that has been previously used as a genetic model organism. By sequencing several different strains of C. elegans, we will be able to not only detect the smaller genetic variations such as single nucleotide polymorphisms, but identify the larger genome rearrangements that may also contribute to phenotypes, said Wilson. (EurekAlert! -- Business News)

    New Method Exploits Ancient Mechanism To Switch Genes On And Off At Will  Jan 30, 2008
    In Caenorhabditis elegans, that s 34 degrees Celsius. If you re good, each animal would take a couple of minutes, says Shai Shaham, head of the Laboratory of Developmental Genetics. (Science Daily)

    Proton-powered Pooping In Worms: Subatomic Protons Act Like Nerve-signal Transmitters  Jan 11, 2008
    Why" "Eating, moving, having sex and pooping are common things that all animals do," says Davis. Nematodes, or Caenorhabditis elegans, have about 1,000 cells and are simple animals studied by researchers worldwide. Nematodes have many of the same tissues -- nerves, muscle and intestine -- that are found in humans, and most of the same genes, making the worm a model for studying human biology. Defecation in round worms is surprisingly complex. The animal has muscle contractions every 50 seconds... (Science Daily)

    A gene that makes sex deadly  Jan 11, 2008
    Youre surely better off than the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans. When the Hawaiian and Bristol strains of this worm breed with one another, their grandchildren pay the price: a genetic incompatibility kills a quarter of the embryos. (Nature News Service)

    Diverse roles of actin in C. elegans early embryogenesis  Dec 25, 2007
    The actin cytoskeleton plays critical roles in early development in Caenorhabditis elegans. To further understand the complex roles of actin in early embryogenesis we use RNAi and in vivo imaging of filamentous actin (F-actin) dynamics. (BioMed Central)

    Overexcited neurons not good for cell health  Dec 18, 2007
    Neuronal Signaling Modulates Protein Homeostasis in Caenorhabditis Elegans Post-synaptic Muscle Cells is published by the journal Genes opment. In addition to Morimoto, the studys co-investigators include lead author Susana M. Garcia, a former graduate student of Morimotos and now a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University; M. Olivia Casanueva, a postdoctoral fellow, and M. Catarina Silva, a visiting predoctoral student, both at Northwestern; and Margarida D. Amaral, University of Lisbon,... (EurekAlert!)

    The Secret to a Longer (Worm's) Life: A Breath of Poison Gas  Dec 5, 2007
    Consider the life of a nematode: Caenorhabditis elegans, a diminutive, soil-dwelling, hermaphroditic worm that has had its (all base pairs) mapped. Coupled with its reproductive potential, this creature makes a perfect lab specimen. (Scientific American)

    Antidepressant may prolong life  Nov 23, 2007
    The drug, called mianserin, extended the life span of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans by about 30%, the researchers reported in the journal Nature. They hope to find out if the same mechanism can help people live longer. (India Times, India)

    Antidepressant Found To Extend Worm Lifespan  Nov 22, 2007
    Buck and colleagues Michael Petrascheck and Xiaolan Ye report in the November 22, 2007, issue of the journal Nature, that the antidepressant drug mianserin can extend the lifespan of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans by about 30 percent ... Roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans. (Science Daily)

    Worms live longer on antidepressant  Nov 22, 2007
    The nematode worm, Caenorhabditis elegans , has been used as a model of ageing for decades, helping scientists to uncover details about what happens to human bodies as they grow old. Scientists are just starting to find drugs that slow ageing. (Nature News Service)

    Worm study shows antidepressant may lengthen life  Nov 22, 2007
    The drug, called mianserin, extended the life span of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans by about 30 percent, the researchers reported in the journal Nature. They hope to find out if the same mechanism can help people live longer. (Yahoo News)

    Evolution in a Petri Dish  Nov 19, 2007
    The team, led by Jos; Luis Mart;nez, a microbiologist at the Spanish National Center of Biotechnology, and Alfonso Navas, director of the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid, used tiny worms known as Caenorhabditis elegans, a species commonly used as a laboratory model. In 2001 the researchers wanted to check how the worms are normally killed in minutes by the infectious bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa. (Nature News Service)

    Genes found that slow both aging and cancer  Nov 10, 2007
    Biologist Cynthia Kenyon is perhaps best known for discovering that a change in just one gene, called daf-2, could double the life span of small roundworms called Caenorhabditis elegans. She and graduate student Julie Pinkston-Gosse screened as many genes as they could that were affected by daf-2. (MSNBC -- Health)

    Poly-G/poly-C tracts in the genomes of Caenorhabditis  Nov 7, 2007
    In the genome of Caenorhabditis elegans, homopolymeric poly-G/poly-C tracts (G/C tracts) exist at high frequency and are maintained by the activity of the DOG-1 protein. The frequency and distribution of G/C tracts in the genomes of C. elegans and the related nematode, C. briggsae were analyzed to investigate possible biological roles for G/C tracts. (BioMed Central)

    Sexual Orientation Hard-Wired in Worm Brains  Oct 26, 2007
    While most nematode worms (Caenorhabditis elegans) are hermaphrodites, having both male and female sex organs, one in 500 nematodes is a true male. Related. (FOX News)

    Sexuality hard-wired in worms' brains  Oct 26, 2007
    "The conclusion is that sexual attraction is wired into brain circuits common to both sexes of worms, said researcher Erik Jorgensen, scientific director of the Brain Institute at the University of Utah and an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. While the study involved only worms, Jorgensen and his colleagues considered how the results shed light on sexual attraction throughout the . advertisementWe cannot say what this means for human sexual orientation, but it raises... (MSNBC -- Technology)

    US studies with worms may extend human life, help fight cancer  Oct 17, 2007
    University of California researchers have found that naturally occurring processes within cells in Caenorhabditis elegans worms could possibly be applied to humans to slow the aging process and, in the process, protect against cancer. Related stories. (iTWire)

    Genes that both extend life and protect against cancer identified  Oct 15, 2007
    The worms, known formally as Caenorhabditis elegans, were the stars of a startling 1993 discovery by UCSF biologist Cynthia Kenyon, PhD. She found then that a change in just one gene, called daf-2, doubled the worms lifespan. This finding led to the understanding that lifespan is regulated by genes and is therefore changeable, rather than the inevitable result of the bodys breakdown. (EurekAlert!)

    UCSC awarded $5 million grant for genome research UCSC, Oct. 09  Oct 11, 2007
    Whereas the main ENCODE project focuses on the human genome, modENCODE aims to identify all of the functional elements in the genomes of two widely used model organisms--the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans and the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Susan Strome, professor of molecular, cell, and developmental biology, is part of a $7 million modENCODE project to study DNA packaging in the roundworm. (University of California Newswire, CA)

    Avoiding Sweets May Spell A Longer Life, Study In Worms Suggests  Oct 7, 2007
    To begin to address the issue in the current study, the researchers exposed the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans to a chemical that blocked the worms' ability to process glucose, producing a metabolic state the researchers said resembles that of dietary glucose restriction ... Reference: Schulz et al.: "Glucose Restriction Extends Caenorhabditis elegans Life Span by Inducing Mitochondrial Respiration and Increasing Oxidative Stress." Publishing in Cell Metabolism 6, 280--293, October 2007. (Science Daily)

    Systematic identification of non-coding RNA 2,2,7-trimethylguanosine cap structures in Caenorhabditis elegans  Sep 30, 2007
    Other articles by authors. Related articles/pages. (BioMed Central)

    Pathway To Cell Death Redefined  Sep 26, 2007
    When collecting specimens of a microscopic worm called Caenorhabditis elegans in water, rather than in a saline solution as is more common, Dr. Luke noticed that an extraordinarily large number of the animals were dying. "My worm yield was way down," he said. (Science Daily)

    Mechanism for the in-vivo transport of siRNA  Sep 18, 2007
    The scientists used the nematode (roundworm) Caenorhabditis elegans to study this ... But what might the alternative doors be" The ETH Zurich researchers remembered that a gene product Sid1, which is necessary for the cellular uptake of siRNA, occurs in the worm Caenorhabditis elegans. The corresponding gene also has a homologue in mammals. By inactivating it, the scientists showed that it is also necessary in mammals. The overall result from all the discoveries is a mechanism for siRNA... (EurekAlert!)

    Unravelling new complexity in the genome  Aug 14, 2007
    A major surprise emerging from genome sequencing projects is that humans have a comparable number of protein-coding genes as significantly less complex organisms such as the minute nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans. Clearly something other than gene count is behind the genetic differences between simpler and more complex life forms. (EurekAlert!)

    Discovery In Plant Virus May Help Prevent HIV And Similar Viruses  Aug 3, 2007
    Humans and organisms used for research, such as fruit flies and the tiny wormlike organism Caenorhabditis elegans, have only one gene in the protein complex that retroviruses use to activate transcription. These organisms die if that gene is completely blocked because of its essential role during transcription. (Science Daily)

    Surprises in sea anemone genome  Jul 6, 2007
    Only about half of Drosophila and Caenorhabditis elegans gene families show such similarity to the common ancestor. have shown gene loss in flies and worms, but this work shows that loss "was highly substantial, even more significant than we expected before," said of the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) in Bethesda, Md. (The Scientist)

    University team to use grant to identify regulatory DNA sequences in model organism  May 25, 2007
    Dubbed modENCODE (model-organism ENCODE), this new focus will apply innovative methods and technologies for the study of gene regulation to the smaller, and therefore more manageable, genomes of the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) and the round worm (Caenorhabditis elegans). Our project will serve as a pilot for the full-scale mapping of functional regulatory elements in the human genome, said program director Kevin White, the James and Karen Frank Family Professor in Human Genetics and the... (Univeristy of Chicago Chronicle, IL)

    Plants that produce more vitamin C may result from UCLA-Dartmouth discovery  May 24, 2007
    The research started as an effort to understand the role of a gene in Caenorhabditis elegans, a tiny worm used as a model for aging studies by Tara Gomez, a former UCLA undergraduate in Clarke's laboratory and now a graduate student at the California Institute of Technology. The gene's sequence suggested that it was related to a family of genes altered in cancer, known as HIT genes; these genes are studied in the laboratory of Charles Brenner at the Norris Cotton Cancer Center at Dartmouth... (EurekAlert!)

    Left-right Wiring Determined By Neural Communication In The Embryonic Worm  May 19, 2007
    Worms aren't so different: The roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans has nerves on its left and right sides that perform different functions. Like handedness, the determination of which nerves develop on which side seems random from worm to worm. (Science Daily)

    MicroRNAs block translation machinery  May 18, 2007
    P.H. Olsen, V. Ambros, "The lin-4 regulatory RNA controls developmental timing in Caenorhabditis elegans by blocking LIN-14 protein synthesis after the initiation of translation," Developmental Biology, December 15, 1999. C.P. Petersen et al., "Short RNAs repress translation after initiation in mammalian cells," Molecular Cell, February 17, 2006. (The Scientist)

    Mechanics Of Asymmetric Cell Division Illuminated  May 8, 2007
    Soon after the egg cell has been fertilized, the developing embryo of the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans undergoes its first cell division. The division gives rise to a bigger cell at the anterior end of the embryo, where the head will develop, and a smaller cell at the posterior end. (Science Daily)

    Scientists Find Clue To Longevity Hidden In Worm Gene  May 6, 2007
    But exactly how this happens was a mystery until scientists from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, looked specifically at how certain genes behave under these near starvation conditions in a nematode worm called Caenorhabditis elegans. Why the interest in a nematode worm. (Medical News Today)

    A search engine to identify pathway genes from expression data on multiple organisms  May 4, 2007
    The MSGR takes a query consisting of a list of genes that function together in a genetic pathway from one of six organisms: Homo sapiens, Drosophila melanogaster, Caenorhabditis elegans, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Arabidopsis thaliana, and Helicobacter pylori. Using a probabilistic method to merge searches, the MSGR identifies genes that are significantly coregulated with the query genes in one or more of those organisms. (BioMed Central)

    Gene clue to longevity uncovered  May 3, 2007
    " The scientists say mammals have a similar gene to pha-4 A study using nematode worms (Caenorhabditis elegans) revealed that a gene called pha-4 played a key role. The team found worms that had their pha-4 genes removed showed no enhanced longevity while on the restricted diet. But they discovered that the opposite experiment - over-expressing levels of pha-4 in the worms - increased longevity when on the restricted diet. "This is the first gene we have found that is absolutely essential to the... (BBC News -- Science)

    Eat Less, Live Longer? Gene Links Calorie Restriction To Longevity  May 3, 2007
    The researchers studied the effect of calorie restriction on aging in the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), such as the ones shown here ... Initially, researchers thought that the effect of calorie restriction on aging was mediated through insulin-like signaling pathways in the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), but experiments by graduate student Siler Panowski in Dillin's lab suggested otherwise. (Science Daily)

    Gene find helps show how eating a lot less could extend life  May 3, 2007
    By using genetically modified variants of the nematode worm - Caenorhabditis elegans - Professor Dillin's team found that the pha-4 gene was a key part of the life-enhancing response to restricting diet. Prof Dillin said that the results, published today in Nature, lay down "the cornerstone of defining the molecular pathway that responds to reduced food intake that results in increased longevity". (Guardian Unlimited)

    A Role for Sperm in Regulation of Egg-Layingin the Nematode C. elegans  May 2, 2007
    We have addressed this question in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, which can reproduce either by hermaphrodite self-fertilization or by male-hermaphrodite mating. Results. (BioMed Central)

    Researchers find level of special protein is critical to proper formation of muscles  Apr 24, 2007
    The lead author of the paper, "The UNC-45 chaperone mediates sarcomere assembly through myosin degradation in Caenorhabditis elegans," is former UTMB postdoctoral fellow Megan E. Landsverk. The paper's other authors are UTMB instructor Shumin Li, UTMB assistant professor Jose M. Barral, Baylor College of Medicine graduate student Alex H. Hutagalung, UTMB laboratory assistant Ayaz Najafov and Thorsten Hoppe, group leader of the Center for Molecular Biology at the University of Hamburg. (EurekAlert!)

    Large-scale RNAi screens identify novel genes that interact with the C. elegans retinoblastoma pathway as well as splicing-related components with synMuv B activity  Apr 7, 2007
    Inactivation of the single Rb-related gene in Caenorhabditis elegans, lin-35, has only limited effects on viability and fertility, yet causes changes in cell-fate and cell-cycle regulation when combined with inactivation of specific other genes. For instance, lin-35 Rb is a synthetic multivulva (synMuv) class B gene, which causes a multivulva phenotype when inactivated simultaneously with a class A or C synMuv gene. (BioMed Central)

    Identification and characterization of insect-specific proteins by genome data analysis  Apr 4, 2007
    Homologs in common to Drosophila melanogaster, Anopheles gambiae, Bombyx mori, Tribolium castaneum, and Apis melifera were compared to the complete genomes of three non-insect eukaryotes (opisthokonts) Homo sapiens, Caenorhabditis elegans and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This operation yielded 154 groups of orthologous proteins in Drosophila to be insect-specific homologs; 466 groups were determined to be common to eukaryotes (represented by three opisthokonts). (BioMed Central)

    Study Yields Clues to Lincoln-Linked Nerve Disease  Jan 29, 2007
    Now, a team of researchers at the University of Utah says its study using the Caenorhabditis elegans worm -- a common animal model for research -- points to a novel mechanism driving SCA5. According to the study, the implicated gene mutation may cause axons -- the long, skinny arms that extend out from nerve cells -- to become much less flexible and then break as an organism moves about. (Health-Finder)

    DNA damage repair defect unifies theories of aging  Dec 24, 2006
    The worm-side story: The tiny roundworms, Caenorhabditis elegans, when exposed to environmental stress during their development, enter into a state akin to hibernation by modifying themselves into a spore like forms, called dauers. They remain in this suspended condition for long periods, till the surroundings again become hospitable to growth. (The Scientist)

    Exploring the Uses of RNAi — Gene Knockdown and the Nobel Prize  Dec 7, 2006
    Nearly 9 years ago, Fire and Mello and their colleagues reported that exposing cells of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans to double-stranded RNA resulted in specific and efficient gene silencing. 1 They also observed that double-stranded RNA is far more potent than sense or antisense RNA in silencing the gene that shares its sequence, and they dubbed the silencing process "RNA interference" (RNAi). (New England Journal of Medicine)

    New Clues To How Sex Evolves  Dec 5, 2006
    But how did sex itself evolve" Researchers at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley have found clues to one part of this complex question in ongoing studies of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. The millimeter-long, transparent nematode C. elegans (left) is ideal for observing the development of sex cells inside the worms's two large gonads (partial view, center). Antibodies label zinc-finger proteins in Pairing Centers... (Science Daily)

    NYU, Scripps finding offers new path for treatment of diabetes  Nov 28, 2006
    The research team, which included NYUs Departments of Biology and Chemistry and Scripps Department of Cell Biology, used the worm Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) to identify a new therapeutic target protein for diabetic treatment. C. elegans is the first animal species where RNA interference (RNAi) is discovered and thus, an excellent model organism for chemical genetic research. (EurekAlert!)

    Sticky Proteins Provide New Insight Into Drug Action  Nov 16, 2006
    (October 11, 2006) -- Using the worm Caenorhabditis elegans, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered a mechanism by which cancer cells become resistant to a specific class of. . (Science Daily)

    Study reveals mechanism for cancer-drug resistance  Oct 10, 2006
    DALLAS Oct. 9, 2006 Using the worm Caenorhabditis elegans, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered a mechanism by which cancer cells become resistant to a specific class of drugs. They found that a mutation in a single protein in the worm renders a potential new cancer drug ineffective. (EurekAlert!)

    Youthful duo snags a swift Nobel for RNA control of genes  Oct 4, 2006
    In a series of simple and elegant experiments on a muscle gene in the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans, Fire and Mello showed that a powerful and consistent 00000564 effect required the sense and antisense RNAs to be stuck together, as double-stranded RNA. When injected with the double-stranded RNA, the worms twitched awkwardly, just like mutant worms lacking the muscle gene. The researchers also showed that mRNA was destroyed by the treatment, rather than being masked as others had... (Nature News Service)

    'Gene Silencing' Discoverers Win Nobel Prize  Oct 3, 2006
    Andrew Fire and Craig Mello were investigating how gene expression is regulated in the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans ... Andrew Fire and Craig Mello were investigating how gene expression is regulated in the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans ... Reference: Fire A., Xu S.Q., Montgomery M.K., Kostas S.A., Driver S.E., Mello C.C. Potent and specific genetic interference by double-stranded RNA in Caenorhabditis elegans. (Science Daily)

    This time, prize is personal  Oct 3, 2006
    Fire, who was working for the Washington-based Carnegie Institution at the time of the discovery, and Mello did their groundbreaking experiment in a worm, Caenorhabditis elegans. . (Newsday -- Health)

    RNAi scoops medical Nobel  Oct 3, 2006
    Fire, then working at the Carnegie Institution of Washington in Baltimore, Maryland, and Mello, who was at the University of Massachusetts Cancer Center in Worcester, made the discovery when studying the worm Caenorhabditis elegans, a much used workhorse for research geneticists. They were investigating the process by which the information encoded in genes, made of DNA, forms a template for the manufacture of proteins the 'central dogma' of molecular biology. (Nature News Service)

    'Quick' medicine Nobel prize is break with tradition  Oct 3, 2006
    " RNA, or ribonucleic acid, is a molecule that works alongside DNA to transmit genetic information. The genome works by recording instructions for the manufacture of proteins in DNA, which are then conveyed to the cell s protein-making structures using messenger RNA. Dr Fire, 47, of Stanford University, and Dr Mello, 45, of the University of Massachusetts, discovered that double strands of RNA can block messenger RNA from specific genes, silencing the genetic information they carry and stopping... (Times Online)

    2 Share Nobel for Method to Silence Specific Genes  Oct 3, 2006
    Working with the humble nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, Fire and Mello showed that when double-stranded RNA bearing the gene for a specific protein was injected into a cell, it sparked a kind of housekeeping, in which the messenger RNA for the same gene was chopped up and destroyed. They published their findings in the scientific journal Nature in 1998. (Q13.com, WA)

    See it online  Oct 3, 2006
    Andrew Fire and Craig Mello were investigating how gene expression is regulated in the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans (Fig ... Reference: Fire A., Xu S.Q., Montgomery M.K., Kostas S.A., Driver S.E., Mello C.C. Potent and specific genetic interference by double-stranded RNA in Caenorhabditis elegans. (USA Today -- Tech)

    Biologists Identify Gene That Coordinates Two Cellular Processes  Sep 25, 2006
    The team is using functional genomic tools to study the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), the first animal species whose genome was completely sequenced and a model organism to study how embryos develop. The study appearing in Current Biology was performed by NYU's Fabio Piano, an assistant professor, and Anita Fernandez, a post-doctoral researcher, at the Center for Comparative Functional Genomics. (Science Daily)

    No Guts, No Worries: Worm Enlists Full-Service Microbes For Transportation, Energy, & Waste Management  Sep 21, 2006
    (December 11, 1998) -- Although several of them will fit on the head of a pin, the tiny roundworm, known by its scientific name as Caenorhabditis elegans, made it big today as Human Genome Project researchers in the United. . (Science Daily)

    News tips from he Journal of Neuroscience  Sep 12, 2006
    The relative simplicity of the nervous system in Caenorhabditis elegans provides some advantages in elucidating the molecular and cellular underpinnings of learning and memory. At least in captivity, worms memorize their cultivation temperature and move toward it when placed in a temperature gradient, but they learn to avoid that temperature if cultured without food. (EurekAlert!)

    Archives: Caenorhabditis elegans

    Back to Pets News

[ Terms Of Use | Privacy | About ]
©1998-2008 SurfWax, Inc.
All rights reserved. Patents pending.



Copyright SurfWax, Inc. 2008