A model of elegance.-猫眼课题宝

优雅的典范。

DOI：

10.1086/302078

发表时间：

1998

期刊：

American journal of human genetics

影响因子：

9.8

通讯作者：

中科院分区：

生物学1区

文献类型：

作者：

Walhout,M;Endoh,H;Thierry-Mieg,N;Wong,W;Vidal,M

Since Sidney Brenner wrote this statement in a visionary research proposal addressed to Max Perutz 35 years ago (Wood 1988, p. xiii), an enormous amount of information has been gathered on the biology of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans (“the worm”), both fulfilling his predictions and exceeding his original expectations. Researchers have identified every cell in the worm and have described all the lineages by which these cells are formed (Horvitz and Sulston 1980; Sulston et al. 1983; Wood 1988). Adult hermaphrodites contain 959 somatic nuclei, which are organized into differentiated tissue types such as muscle, intestine, epidermis, and nervous system. The latter is composed of 302 neurons that are connected by∼ 7,500 synaptic junctions (Wood 1988). The function of many individual cells has been inferred from ablation experiments using laserbeam technology (eg, see Bargmann and Avery 1995). Genes involved in development and behavior have been identified through the analysis of mutations that affect these functions. The number of genes identified genetically has increased from the original 103 described by Brenner (1974) to the∼ 1,600 complementation groups known at present (Hodgkin 1997). A comprehensive genetic map has been compiled and continues to expand. A detailed physical map of overlapping cosmids and YACs covers the genome almost entirely (Coulson et al. 1995). Finally, the genome sequence is expected to be completed by the end of this year (Hodgkin et al. 1995).