A Transparent Window into Biology: A Primer on Caenorhabditis elegans.
A Transparent Window into Biology: A Primer on Caenorhabditis elegans.
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DOI：
10.1534/genetics.115.176099
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发表时间：
2015-06
期刊：
影响因子：
3.3
通讯作者：
Chalfie M
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Corsi AK;Wightman B;Chalfie M
50多年前，Sydney Brenner很有远见地发展了秀丽隐杆线虫（Caenorhabditis elegans），作为理解发育生物学和神经生物学问题的遗传模型。随着时间的推移，对秀丽隐杆线虫的研究已经扩展到探索现代生物学中丰富的不同领域，包括真核细胞的基本功能和相互作用，宿主-寄生虫相互作用和进化的研究。秀丽隐杆线虫也成为研究人类疾病中出错过程的重要生物。本引物介绍了该生物及其许多特性，使其成为一个出色的实验系统，包括其小尺寸，快速的生命周期，透明度和良好的注释基因组。本文综述了秀丽隐杆线虫的基本解剖特征、常用技术方法和重要研究发现。研究秀丽隐杆线虫的关键是能够从遗传学上解决生物学问题，既可以在整个生物体的水平上，也可以在单个鉴定细胞的水平上，使用正向和反向遗传学。这些可能性使得秀丽隐杆线虫不仅在研究实验室中很有用，而且在课堂上也很有用，在课堂上，它可以用来激发学生的兴趣，让他们真正看到活细胞和组织内部发生的事情。
A little over 50 years ago, Sydney Brenner had the foresight to develop the nematode (round worm) Caenorhabditis elegans as a genetic model for understanding questions of developmental biology and neurobiology. Over time, research on C. elegans has expanded to explore a wealth of diverse areas in modern biology including studies of the basic functions and interactions of eukaryotic cells, host–parasite interactions, and evolution. C. elegans has also become an important organism in which to study processes that go awry in human diseases. This primer introduces the organism and the many features that make it an outstanding experimental system, including its small size, rapid life cycle, transparency, and well-annotated genome. We survey the basic anatomical features, common technical approaches, and important discoveries in C. elegans research. Key to studying C. elegans has been the ability to address biological problems genetically, using both forward and reverse genetics, both at the level of the entire organism and at the level of the single, identified cell. These possibilities make C. elegans useful not only in research laboratories, but also in the classroom where it can be used to excite students who actually can see what is happening inside live cells and tissues.