He, M. et al. (2017) International Worm Meeting "Implication of LIN-53 in laminopathies."

Seelk, S., He, M., Tursun, B.

[International Worm Meeting, 2017]

Lamin proteins assemble a complex protein meshwork known as the nuclear lamina of the inner nuclear membrane. Besides their structural role, lamins are essential in multiple cellular functions, such as DNA replication, chromatin organization, gene regulation, and cell differentiation. Mutations in the human LMNA gene encoding for Lamin A/C can result in a diverse set of genetic disorders known as laminopathies. Examples comprise Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy (EDMD) characterized by muscle wasting or Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS) causing a severe form of premature ageing. To genetically dissect the pathogenic mechanisms of human laminopathies, we introduced the corresponding mutations of patients from our clinic into the lamin gene lmn-1 of C. elegans. To recapitulate the muscle disorders observed in the patients, the mutated lmn-1 forms were specifically expressed in the body wall muscle cells. The previously described EDMD-causing Y59C (Mattout et al., 2012) was employed as a positive control. Motility assays based on swimming revealed that lamin mutations impair the motility of transgenic worms. Immunostaining for muscle proteins detected structural defects in the internal Myosin and Actin filaments as well as in the attachment structures based on Myotactin and Perlecan proteins. Currently, we are also examining worms with expression of lamin mutations in other tissues such as the intestine. The NuRD (Nucleosome Remodeling and Deacetylase) complex has been implicated in HGPS (Pegoraro et al., 2009). Particularly, the histone chaperone RBBP4 (LIN-53 in C. elegans), a core subunit of NuRD, was identified to be an interactor of Lamin A. Moreover, loss of RBBP4 correlates with global ageing-related chromatin defects in both HGPS and normally aged cells. Notably, depletion of the RBBP4 homolog LIN-53 by RNAi or mutation in worms leads to muscle dysfunction and lifespan shortening. Currently, we are testing whether the expression level and cellular localization of LIN-53, as well as histone modifications, are affected in the patient-derived lamin mutants in order to assess the crosstalk between Lamin and LIN-53 in the development of laminopathies.

Rohela M et al. (2006) Southeast Asian J Trop Med Public Health "Eye lesion caused by adult Brugia malayi: a first case reported in a child from Malaysia."

Jamaiah I, Rohela M, Yaw CC

[Southeast Asian J Trop Med Public Health, 2006]

We are reporting a case of an eye lesion caused by an adult Brugia malayi. The patient was a 3-year-old Chinese boy from Kemaman District, Terengganu, Peninsular Malaysia. He presented with a one week history of redness and palpebral swelling of his right eye. He claimed that he could see a worm in his right eye beneath the conjunctiva. He had no history of traveling overseas and the family kept dogs at home. He was referred from Kemaman Hospital to the eye clinic of Hospital Tengku Ampuan Afzan, Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia. On examination by the ophthalmologist, he was found to have a subconjunctival worm in his right eye. Full blood count revealed eosinophilia (10%). Four worm fragments, each about 1 cm long were removed from his right eye under general anesthesia. A thick blood smear stained with Giemsa was positive for microfilariae of Brugia malayi. A Brugia Rapid test done was positive. He was treated with diethylcarbamazine.

Ferris H et al. (2015) Genetics "Ellsworth C. Dougherty: A Pioneer in the Selection of Caenorhabditis elegans as a Model Organism."

Ferris H, Hieb WF

[Genetics, 2015]

Ellsworth Dougherty (1921-1965) was a man of impressive intellectual dimensions and interests; in a relatively short career he contributed enormously as researcher and scholar to the biological knowledge base for selection of Caenorhabditis elegans as a model organism in neurobiology, genetics, and molecular biology. He helped guide the choice of strains that were eventually used, and, in particular, he developed the methodology and understanding for the nutrition and axenic culture of nematodes and other organisms. Dougherty insisted upon a concise terminology for culture techniques and coined descriptive neologisms that were justified by their linguistic roots. Among other contributions, he refined the classification system for the Protista.

Hodgkin J (2004) Curr Biol "Jonathan Hodgkin."

Hodgkin J

[Curr Biol, 2004]

Jonathan Hodgkin graduated from Oxford in 1971 and then did a PhD with Sydney Brenner at MRC LMB in Cambridge, studying behavioural genetics in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Later, after a couple of years working with myxobacteria as a postdoc in Dale Kaiser''s lab at Stanford, he returned to LMB as a staff member, where he remained for most of the subsequent two decades. In the year 2000, he moved to Oxford as Professor of Genetics in the Department of Biochemistry, switching his major research interests from developmental genetics and sex determination to the study of host-pathogen interactions in the worm. For the past ten years, he has acted as curator of the C. elegans genetic map and gene nomenclature, and he is currently President of the Genetics Society of Great Britain.

Bowerman BA (1997) Nature "Developmental biology. The worm keeps turning."

Bowerman BA

[Nature, 1997]

Who scapes the lurking sepent's mortal sting? Not he that sets his foot upon her back. Even the smallest of worms will turn, when trodden on.

Han H-P et al. (1992) Worm Breeder's Gazette "Expression and Localization of the cha-1 and unc-17 Gene Products"

Rand JB, Duerr JS, Han H-P

[Worm Breeder's Gazette, 1992]

EXPRESSION AND LOCALIZATION OF THE cha-l AND unc-17 GENE PRODUCTS He-ping Han, Janet Duerr, and Jim Rand, Oklahoma Medlcal Research Foundation, Oklahoma Clty, OK 73104

Wade N (1997) The New York Times "A worm and a computer help illuminate diabetes."

Wade N

[The New York Times, 1997]

His tall figure bent over a computer screen in his laboratory at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. Gary Ruvkun rummages through a distant genetic data base for matches to a gene he believes is involved in diabetes. ?You learn how to read these as they are ratcheting by,? he says, while lines of data streak up his screen. ?I think MTV is good training.?

Morimoto RI et al. (2024) Autophagy "Proteostasis in health and disease: a conversation with Professor Rick Morimoto."

Ktistakis NT, Morimoto RI

[Autophagy, 2024]

Professor Richard (Rick) Morimoto is the Bill and Gayle Cook Professor of Biology and Director of the Rice Institute for Biomedical Research at Northwestern University. He has made foundational contributions to our understanding of how cells respond to various stresses, and the role played in those responses by chaperones. Working across a variety of experimental models, from <i>C</i>. <i>elegans</i> to human neuronal cells, he has identified a number of important molecular components that sense and respond to stress, and he has dissected how stress alters cellular and organismal physiology. Together with colleagues, Professor Morimoto has coined the term "proteostasis" to signify the homeostatic control of protein expression and function, and in recent years he has been one of the leaders of a consortium trying to understand proteostasis in healthy and disease states. I took the opportunity to talk with Professor Morimoto about proteostasis in general, the aims of the consortium, and how autophagy is playing an important role in their research effort.

Bargmann C et al. (2002) Cell "Accolade for elegans."

Hodgkin J, Bargmann C

[Cell, 2002]

In 1963, Sydney Brenner, one of the founders of molecular biology, had reached an intellectual impasse. He felt that there were few advances left in that field that would have the significance of the discovery of mRNA and the elucidation of the genetic code, both of which he had participated in, and in any case with so many Americans joining in, the chemical details of replication and so forth would all be worked out soon. Brenner thought large thoughts, and the questions that were left seemed too

Drechsler C (1946) Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club "A species of Harposporium invading its nematode host from the stoma."

Drechsler C

[Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, 1946]

In 1874 Lohde briefly described a hyphomycete that he found growing parasitically on numerous eelworms belonging to a species of Anguillula. To this hyphomycete he applied the binomial Harposporium Anguillulae; the generic term then presented for the first time having reference to the crescentically curved, sickle-shaped conidia which the fungus produced terminally on delicate sterigmata arising singley from peculiar round protuberances formed laterally on the hyphal branches or hyphal prolongations that were extended from the multicellular mycelial filaments, from 2 to 4 in number, passing through the animals body....