WormBook chapter on gene structures in C.elegans updated

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Dear WormBook reader,

Overview of gene structure in C. elegans, by John Spieth, Daniel Lawson, Paul Davis, Gary Williams, and Kevin Howe, has just been added to the Genetics and genomics and Molecular biology sections of WormBook. This chapter updates Overview of gene structure, by John Spieth and Daniel Lawson, originally published in 2005. The updated chapter describes some of the ways in which gene structures are currently curated in WormBase, primarily focusing on transcribed regions of genes, and also includes an updated description of non-coding RNA genes.

Please proceed to read this chapter and others on nematode biology at http://www.wormbook.org/. If you have any comments or suggestions, please submit them via the Feedback page on wormbook.org.

Thank you for your interest in WormBook.

Jane

new Worm Breeder's Gazette out

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Dear Worm Researcher,

Volume 20, Number 2 of The Worm Breeder’s Gazette has been published. This issue highlights genome editing and includes 4 articles describing improvements in CRISPR/Cas9 technology, web resources useful for those experiments, and links to published papers in the field. The issue also includes descriptions of other useful tools for the worm community, a caution about the potential effects of bacto-peptone on worm behavior, and several other research summaries. There are also worm humor articles, worm art, and new lab announcements.

Please proceed to http://www.wormbook.org/wbg/ to view the latest issue of the Gazette.

Best regards,

Jane Mendel
Editor, WormBook

A Streamlined System for Species Diagnosis in Caenorhabditis

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We would like to congratulate Marie-Anne Felix, Asher Cutter and Christian Braendle on their publication in PLoS One, which describes new name designations for 15 new nematode species.

Of special interest to WormBase users:

  • C.sp 7 will become Caenorhabditis afra
  • C.sp 11 will become Caenorhabditis tropicalis

    • Genomics of Loa loa, a Wolbachia-free filarial parasite of humans

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    Congratulations to the Broad institute, as their Loa loa genome (shown on WormBase) has been successfully published in Nature Genetics.

    Nat Genet. 2013 Mar 24. doi: 10.1038/ng.2585.

    Genomics of Loa loa, a Wolbachia-free filarial parasite of humans.

    Desjardins CA, Cerqueira GC, Goldberg JM, Hotopp JC, Haas BJ, Zucker J, Ribeiro JM, Saif S, Levin JZ, Fan L, Zeng Q,Russ C, Wortman JR, Fink DL, Birren BW, Nutman TB.
    Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.

    Abstract

    Loa loa, the African eyeworm, is a major filarial pathogen of humans. Unlike most filariae, L. loa does not contain the obligate intracellular Wolbachia endosymbiont. We describe the 91.4-Mb genome of L. loa and that of the related filarial parasite Wuchereria bancrofti and predict 14,907 L. loa genes on the basis of microfilarial RNA sequencing. By comparing these genomes to that of another filarial parasite, Brugia malayi, and to those of several other nematodes, we demonstrate synteny among filariae but not with nonparasitic nematodes. The L. loa genome encodes many immunologically relevant genes, as well as protein kinases targeted by drugs currently approved for use in humans. Despite lacking Wolbachia, L. loa shows no new metabolic synthesis or transport capabilities compared to other filariae. These results suggest that the role of Wolbachia in filarial biology is more subtle than previously thought and reveal marked differences between parasitic and nonparasitic nematodes.