Nichol Thomson, one of the founding figures of C. elegans research, recently passed away, peacefully, at the age of 91, on 26th March 2016. He was responsible for a major part of all the early electron microscopy work on the worm, and indeed his initial results with fixing and sectioning C. elegans samples were decisive in persuading Sydney Brenner to work on C. elegans rather than some other nematode. Nichol was an important influence, inspiration, colleague and friend to all of the C. elegans researchers at MRC-LMB in Cambridge UK, from 1964 until his retirement in 1989.
Check out the first chapter of WormBook in GENETICS!
The first chapter of WormBook in GENETICS, CRISPR-Based Methods for Caenorhabditis elegans Genome Engineering, by Daniel J. Dickinson and Bob Goldstein, is now available!
Abstract
The advent of genome editing techniques based on the clustered regularly interspersed short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)–Cas9 system has revolutionized research in the biological sciences. CRISPR is quickly becoming an indispensible experimental tool for researchers using genetic model organisms, including the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Here, we provide an overview of CRISPR-based strategies for genome editing in C. elegans. We focus on practical considerations for successful genome editing, including a discussion of which strategies are best suited to producing different kinds of targeted genome modifications.
Featured Paper: Allergy the Price of Immunity
We would like to draw your attention to a paper recently published in PLOS Computational Biology: Comparisons of Allergenic and Metazoan Parasite Proteins: Allergy the Price of Immunity by Nidhi Tyagi, et. al.
It is thought that part of our immune system has evolved to combat and provide immunity against infection by parasitic worms. However, in the absence of parasitic infection, this same arm of the immune system can become hyper-responsive and mistakenly target allergenic proteins in food or the environment. This results in an unregulated allergic response, which can sometimes be lethal.
The researchers used computational techniques to predict which proteins in parasitic worms would cause an immune response similar to an allergic reaction in humans. Their experimental studies supported these predictions and, for the first time, they identified a protein in a parasitic worm that is similar to a protein that was previously thought to be encoded only in the genomes of plants. This protein is one of the most common proteins in pollen that causes allergy in humans.
The paper and its associated Brugia malayi and Onchocerca volvulus genes are part of the WS252 release of WormBase.
(Reproduced from the WormBase Parasite blog).
Leonid Kruglyak honored with 2016 Novitski Prize
Leonid Kruglyak (HHMI/University of California, Los Angeles) has been awarded the 2016 Edward Novitski Prize for his extraordinary level of creativity and intellectual ingenuity in the solution of significant problems in genetics research. Read more here.
Please cite WormBase in your publications!
If you have used WormBase in the planning, design, execution, analysis, or reporting of research, please cite WormBase in your publications, preferably please cite which version/release of WormBase you used. See details on how to cite WormBase.