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Curr Biol,
2000]
A new animal model for studying muscular dystrophy, a mutant form of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, brings the power of worm genetics to bear on the search for a cure for this disease; work on this worm has already led to the identification of a novel component that can suppress the mutant phenotype.
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J Microsc,
2013]
Correlative light and electron microscopy (CLEM) has recently gained increasing attention, because it enables the acquisition of dynamic as well as ultrastructural information about subcellular processes. It is the power of combining the two imaging modalities that gives additional information as compared to using the imaging techniques separately. Here, we briefly summarize two CLEM approaches for the analysis of cells in mitosis and cytokinesis.
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Curr Opin Cell Biol,
1992]
Reproducible cell-cell interactions contribute to the invariance of Caenorhabditis elegans development and allow high resolution study of molecular mechanisms of intercellular signaling. A number of new cell interactions have been discovered in the past year. The power of nematode molecular genetics has been increased through several technical advances and the genome project, and these new approaches are now being successfully applied both to familiar and new signaling mechanisms.
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Neuron,
2002]
Cyclic GMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG) has been implicated in the regulation of diverse aspects of vertebrate and insect behavior, yet the mechanisms underlying these effects are poorly understood. In this issue of Neuron, Fujiwara et al. and L'Etoile et al. address the neural basis for PKG function in C. elegans and demonstrate the power of behavioral genetic analysis in simple systems in the elucidation of neuronal signaling mechanisms in vivo.
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Aging (Milano),
1993]
A central theme underlies this review: "Genetics offers an important tool for identifying key molecular events that are involved in specifying biological functions." This approach has been used repeatedly to understand such diverse biological phenomena as oncogenesis, development, and the cell cycle, but has only recently been applied to the analysis of organismic aging and senescence. The power of the genetic approach lies in the ability to integrate phenomena that are displayed at multiple observational levels (i.e., from the molecular to the whole organism), and the power to reveal causal factors that are not dependent upon the prejudice of the investigator. I discuss several areas where genetics has been fruitfully applied to the study of the aging processes: human genes identified by "segmental progeroid" mutations; neurological diseases of the elderly; the limited proliferative life span of human somatic cells in tissue culture; studies on the life span of the mouse; and genetic analysis of life span in shorter-lived metazoans (Drosophila melanogaster and Caenorhabditis elegans), and the yeast Saccaromyces cerevisiae.
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Exp Gerontol,
1997]
Genetics is an important tool for identifying key molecular events that are involved in specifying biological functions. Genetic approaches have been used repeatedly to understand diverse biological phenomena: oncogenesis, development, and the cell cycle, but have only recently been applied to the analysis of organismic aging and senescence. The power of the genetic approach stems from two facts. First, genetic analyses allow the integration of phenomena that are analyzed at many levels of observation from the molecule to the intact organism, and second, genetics has the real power to reveal causality by factors that are not dependent upon the prejudice of the investigator. I discuss several areas where genetics has been fruitfully applied to the study of the aging processes: human genes identified by "segmental progeroid" mutations, neurological diseases of the elderly, the limited proliferative life span of human somatic cells in tissue culture, studies on the life span of the mouse, and genetic analysis of life span in shorter lived metazoans (Drosophila melanogaster and Caenorhabditis elegans), and the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
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Dev Biol,
2019]
The shape of an individual neuron is linked to its function with axons sending signals to other cells and dendrites receiving them. Although much is known of the mechanisms for axonal outgrowth, the striking complexity of dendritic architecture has hindered efforts to uncover pathways that direct dendritic branching. Here we review the results of an experimental strategy that exploits the power of genetic analysis and live cell imaging of the PVD sensory neuron in C. elegans to reveal key molecular drivers of dendrite morphogenesis.
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Nature Reviews Genetics,
2002]
Imagine being able to knock out your favourite gene with only a day's work. Not just in one model system, but in virtually any organism: plants, flies, mice or cultured cells. This sort of experimental dream might one day become reality as we learn to harness the power of RNA interference, the process by which double-stranded RNA induces the silencing of homologous endogenous genes. How this phenomenon works is slowly becoming clear, and might help us to develop an effortless tool to probe gene function in cells and animals.
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WormBook,
2005]
Receptors of the LIN-12 /Notch family mediate cell-cell interactions during animal development, and aberrations in LIN-12 /Notch signaling have been implicated in human disease. Studies in C. elegans have been instrumental in defining the basic features of the LIN-12 /Notch pathway, the role of LIN-12 /Notch proteins as receptors for intercellular signals, the mechanism of signal transduction, and the regulation of LIN-12 /Notch signaling during cell fate decisions. This chapter is focused on detailing how the "awesome power of C. elegans genetics" has identified many core components and modulators of LIN-12 /Notch activity.
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Curr Opin Neurobiol,
2011]
Axon regeneration has long been studied in vertebrate model organisms and neuronal cultures. Recent development of axon regeneration paradigms in genetic model organisms, such as Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila and zebrafish, has opened an exciting field for in vivo functional dissection of regeneration pathways. Studies in these organisms have discovered essential genes and pathways for axon regrowth. The conservation of these genes crossing animal phyla suggests mechanistic relevance to higher organisms. The power of genetic approaches in these organisms makes large-scale genetic and pharmacological screens feasible and can greatly accelerate the mechanistic understanding of axon regeneration.