Center for Caenorhabditis Elegans Anatomy

线虫，秀丽隐杆线虫，已被确定为细胞的“高连通性”动物， 发展这种非常小，简单的动物已被广泛采用的实验研究，由于其 优秀的遗传学和可访问的细胞生物学。该蠕虫的完整基因组已经公布， 大多数成人解剖学都是通过连续薄片的电子显微照片重建的。 然而，EM技术并没有被C. elegans社区，和大多数以前的EM数据 并不容易获得。C中心。elegans Anatomy专注于扩展EM方法， C. 1）研究正常发育和突变动物中的细胞变化， 2)进行EM免疫细胞化学和组织化学研究，以定位抗原或分子， 超微结构水平这些研究正在与NIH和NSF资助的 实验室，以实现其现有的实验目标。此外，该中心还公布了 以注释的TEM和光学显微照片的形式提供关于线虫解剖学的信息。 信息可以在我们的WormAtlas网站上通过FTP、CD和DVD获得，不久将 以书的形式出版。在必要的时候，该中心正在测试新的EM方法。优雅，和 在关键发育阶段对野生型解剖进行新的EM调查，以补充图谱， 填补我们常识的空白。该中心还提供TEM方法的培训， C. elegans实验室可以进行他们自己的EM研究。 许多疾病相关的基因序列在C.线虫基因组;遗传的透射电镜病理学 线虫中的突变通常有助于发现人类中等同基因产物的功能。 这项R24申请首先得到资助，中心于1998年2月开放;我们要求五年的资助 继续建设我们服务科学界的能力。

The nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans, has been identified as a "high connectivity" animal for cellular development. This very small, simple animal has been widely adopted for experimental study due to its excellent genetics and accessible cell biology. The complete genome of the worm has been published, and most of the adult anatomy has been reconstructed from electron micrographs of serial thin sections. However, EM techniques are not widely utilized by the C. elegans community, and most previous EM data are not easily accessed. The Center for C. elegans Anatomy concentrates on extending the EM methods on C. elegans, particularly to 1) study cellular changes during normal development and in mutant animals, and 2) conduct EM-immunocytochemical and histochemical studies to localize antigens or molecules at the ultrastructural level. Such studies are being conducted in close collaboration with NIH- and NSF-funded laboratories, in fulfillment of their existing experimental aims. In addition, the Center is 3) publishing detailed information regarding the anatomy of the nematode in the form of annotated TEM and light micrographs. Information is available on the Internet on our WormAtlas website, by ftp, on CDs and DVDs, and soon will be published in book form. Where necessary, the Center is 4) testing new EM methods for C. elegans, and conducting new EM surveys of the wild type anatomy at key developmental stages to supplement the Atlas, and to fill gaps in our general knowledge. The Center also provides 5) training in TEM methods so that more C. elegans labs can conduct their own EM studies. Many disease-related gene sequences are known in the C. elegans genome; the TEM pathology of genetic mutations in nematode is often helpful in discovering the function of equivalent gene products in man. This R24 application was first funded and the Center opened in Feb. 1998; we request five years of funding to continue building our capabilities to serve the scientific community.