WormBase: an evolving resource for nematode biology

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Many developments in modern medicine are based on the enormous progress made over the last 50 years in our understanding of how our genes work. For example, drugs interact with genes to change how biological systems function. Much of the research that has led to this progress is hard or impossible to do in humans. Because all animals share evolutionary origins, study of simple animals helps to understand human biology. Certain key model organisms have been the focus of intensive study, and some of the most important progress has been made with extremely simple animals. One of these is the tiny roundworm, or nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans. C. elegans research has been strategically supported by the MRC for over 40 years, leading to two Nobel prizes in the last five years, and is a key contributor to our understanding of basic processes such as cell death and aging.In addition to its relevance for understanding animal biology, research on C. elegans is particularly important to our understanding of the biology of other nematodes. Globally, more than one billion people are infected with nematode parasites, including blood-borne filarial parasites, such as Onchocerca that causes river blindness, and Wuchereria that cause elephantiasis; as well as intestinal nematodes such as hookworms, whipworms and giant round worms. Typically infections are associated with and promote poverty. For most parasitic nematodes, maintaining full life cycles in the laboratory is either difficult or impossible and few molecular tools exist. Thus researchers are highly reliant on functional studies in C. elegans and their extrapolation (via sequence homology) into the parasites of sister taxa.Genetic research has been revolutionized by obtaining the complete DNA sequence (the genome) of the organism being studied, which contains all the gene sequences. C. elegans was the first animal to have its genome sequenced and now major programmes are collecting genome sequences for parasitic species. To use genome sequences and all the new information about genes requires information resources that tie together DNA information with experimental data, and relate corresponding genes across animals. This application will enable the support and development of WormBase, the reference information resource for all genomic and biological data for C. elegans, and its expansion to enable the curation of genomic and experimental information for increasing numbers of nematode parasites. WormBase is essential both for fundamental research that uses C. elegans as a model, and for research into nematodes that cause disease. By relating these two branches of nematode research, WormBase will be uniquely placed to enable community-wide exploitation of data emerging for parasites by applying information, experience, and technological infrastructure developed for C. elegans.