Center for Caenorhabditis Elegans Anatomy

线虫，秀丽线虫，已被鉴定为细胞高度连通性的动物。 发展。这种非常小、简单的动物被广泛用于实验研究，因为它的 优良的遗传学和可接近的细胞生物学。蠕虫的完整基因组已经公布，并且 大部分成人解剖结构是从连续薄片的电子显微镜照片中重建出来的。 然而，线虫群落并没有广泛使用EM技术，大多数以前的EM数据 是不容易访问的。线虫解剖中心专注于将EM方法扩展到 线虫，特别是研究细胞在正常发育过程中和突变动物中的变化，以及 2)进行EM免疫细胞化学和组织化学研究，以定位抗原或分子在 超微结构水平。这类研究是与NIH和NSF资助的密切合作进行的 实验室，以实现其现有的实验目标。此外，该中心正在发布详细的 关于线虫解剖的信息，以带注释的电子显微镜和光学显微照片的形式提供。 信息可在互联网上的WormAtlas网站、ftp、CD和DVD上获得，不久将 以书的形式出版。如有必要，该中心正在测试新的线虫EM方法，以及 对关键发育阶段的野生类型解剖进行新的EM调查，以补充地图集， 填补我们常识中的空白。该中心还提供瞬变电磁法的培训，以便更多 线虫实验室可以进行自己的EM研究。 在线虫基因组中已知许多与疾病相关的基因序列；遗传的透射电子显微镜病理学 线虫的突变通常有助于发现人类同等基因产物的功能。 此R24申请首次获得资助，该中心于1998年2月开业；我们请求五年的资助 继续建设我们服务于科学界的能力。

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.