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A Transparent Window into Biology: A Primer on Caenorhabditis elegans

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 mo...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Corsi, Ann K., Wightman, Bruce, Chalfie, Martin
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Genetics Society of America 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4492366/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26088431
http://dx.doi.org/10.1534/genetics.115.176099
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author Corsi, Ann K.
Wightman, Bruce
Chalfie, Martin
author_facet Corsi, Ann K.
Wightman, Bruce
Chalfie, Martin
author_sort Corsi, Ann K.
collection PubMed
description 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.
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spelling pubmed-44923662016-06-01 A Transparent Window into Biology: A Primer on Caenorhabditis elegans Corsi, Ann K. Wightman, Bruce Chalfie, Martin Genetics Primer 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. Genetics Society of America 2015-06 2015-06-03 /pmc/articles/PMC4492366/ /pubmed/26088431 http://dx.doi.org/10.1534/genetics.115.176099 Text en Copyright © 2015 Corsi, Wightman, and Chalfie This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Unported License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Primer
Corsi, Ann K.
Wightman, Bruce
Chalfie, Martin
A Transparent Window into Biology: A Primer on Caenorhabditis elegans
title A Transparent Window into Biology: A Primer on Caenorhabditis elegans
title_full A Transparent Window into Biology: A Primer on Caenorhabditis elegans
title_fullStr A Transparent Window into Biology: A Primer on Caenorhabditis elegans
title_full_unstemmed A Transparent Window into Biology: A Primer on Caenorhabditis elegans
title_short A Transparent Window into Biology: A Primer on Caenorhabditis elegans
title_sort transparent window into biology: a primer on caenorhabditis elegans
topic Primer
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4492366/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26088431
http://dx.doi.org/10.1534/genetics.115.176099
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