Center for Caenorhabditis Elegans Anatomy

描述（由申请人提供）：线虫，秀丽隐杆线虫，已被确定为细胞发育的“高连通性”动物。这种非常小，简单的动物由于其优良的遗传学和可接近的细胞生物学而被广泛用于实验研究。蠕虫的完整基因组已经发表，并且大部分成年解剖结构已经通过一系列薄片的电子显微照片重建。然而，EM技术并没有被秀丽隐杆线虫界广泛使用，而且大多数以前的EM数据不容易访问。线虫解剖中心专注于1)以注释的TEM和光学显微照片的形式发布有关线虫解剖的详细信息，这些信息可以在我们的两个网站WormAtlas（基于文本的）和Wormlmage（图像数据库）上获得，也可以通过ftp、硬盘驱动器和以书的形式作为线虫图集。该中心2)为学生和博士后提供现代电磁方法的实践培训，3)测试秀丽隐杆线虫的新电磁方法。我们还对关键发育阶段的野生型解剖进行了新的EM调查，以补充Adas，并填补我们一般知识的空白。该R24申请首次获得资助，中心于1998年2月开业；我们要求多年的资金来继续建设我们为科学界服务的能力。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): 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 1) publishing detailed information regarding the anatomy of the nematode in the form of annotated TEM and light micrographs, available on our two websites WormAtlas (text-based) and Wormlmage (image database), and by ftp, on hard drives, and in book form as the C. elegans Atlas. The Center is 2) providing practical training in modern EM methods for students and postdoc's and 3) testing new EM methods for C. elegans. We also conduct new EM surveys of the wild type anatomy at key developmental stages to supplement the Adas, and to fill gaps in our general knowledge. This R24 application was first funded and the Center opened in Feb. 1998; we request years of funding to continue building our capabilities to serve the scientific community.