Introductory chapter added to WormBook

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Dear WormBook reader,

We are very happy to announce that A Transparent Window into Biology: A Primer on Caenorhabditis elegans, by Ann Corsi, Bruce Wightman, and Marty Chalfie, has just been added to WormBook as a co-publication with GENETICS. This concise and comprehensive review, which serves as an introductory chapter to WormBook, discusses the basic biology, genetics, anatomy, genomics, ecology, and evolution of C. elegans. Key discoveries resulting from research using this organism are described, as is the strong collaborative nature of the worm community. We expect this introduction to provide an invaluable resource for students and others new to C. elegans research and literature.

We thank Tracey DePellegrin, Ruth Isaacson, and Elizabeth De Stasio of GENETICS for their dedication to this collaboration, as well as Editor-in-Chief Mark Johnston for his support of the project.

Please proceed to read this new 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.

Jane

Nuclear receptor chapter updated in WormBook

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Nuclear receptor signal transduction in C. elegans, by Adam Antebi, has just been published in the Signal transduction section of WormBook. This chapter updates his 2006 chapter, Nuclear hormone receptors in C. elegans. The updated chapter discusses the role of nuclear receptors as regulators of life history, cell fate, and organogenesis, and their function in nutrient sensing, metabolism and energy homeostasis.

Please proceed to read this new 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

WormBase release WS248

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The newly released WS248 version of WormBase includes several updates based on curation topics as well as synchronisation with other databases.
In addition the use of Gene Ontology has been extended.

microRNA update for Brugia malayi

The newest data on Brugia malayi microRNAs from miRBase Release 21 has been integrated,
which includes pre-miRNA and mature transcripts as well as the consolidation of
nomenclature used by WormBase and miRBase.

Heavy Metal Topic curation

This release focuses on the curation of data related to Heavy Metal response in nematodes.
Supporting data and publications have been added to WormBase, in addition to review of
gene models for genes involved in this pathway.

New automated descriptions

Gene descriptions generated automatically using a new in-house pipeline were rolled out
for C. elegans in the WS247 release. This release extends that to all other core
species (B. malayi, O. volvulus, C. briggsae, C. brenneri, C. remanei, C. japonica)

New Gene Ontology Annotation Class

Starting with the WS248 release, Gene Ontology annotations will be represented in a new class,
GO_annotation. The GO_annotation class modelsGO annotations as distinct objects in the
database and allows for richer representation of GO data. For example, the GO_annotation
class contains information on interacting genes for annotations that use the IGI (Inferred
from Genetic Interaction) and IPI (Inferred from Physical Interaction) evidence codes, and
also contains annotation extensions that provide additional context for GO terms, such as
substrates for enzymatic activities. The GO_annotation class also includes annotations from
external groups such as UniProt and the Gene Ontology Consortium’s phylogenetic annotation
efforts using PAINT.

WS247: C. briggsae genes have descriptions!

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In the previous WS246 release we introduced automated gene descriptions for C. elegans genes that lacked a manually written one. These gene descriptions include information related to orthology, process, function and sub-cellular localization (when these data-types have been curated in the WormBase database), giving the user a quick overview of the gene. The current WS247 release includes automated descriptions for over 18,000 C. briggsae genes.  Check out the C. briggase gene pages to view these descriptions under ‘Overview’!  In future releases, we will add genes from many more species!  Also, WormBase is working on user-friendly forms which you can use to edit these descriptions and make them better.

WormBase release WS247

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Orthology update

* Data from Inparanoid was updated to version 8
* Orthology data for all core nemtatodes and model organisms was imported from WormBase Parasite release 1
* OMA and TreeFam data was removed in preparation for an update (TreeFam accessions will remain as database crossreferences)

Expression and Picture update

* A large set of expression graphs for other nematodes produced by Yanai’s has been added

RNASeq data

The RNASeq data will become richer in WS247.

There will also be “control” mean and median FPKM values derived from the data which does not have a specific experimental condition applied.

New/updated reference genomes

This release we see a rebuild of C. elegans, B. malayi and O. volvulus. Various data classes and curational activites have been undertaken on these species since the release of WS246