Check out the latest release (5.1.0) of the Alliance of Genome Resources for your favorite worm gene and get great comparative data across the major model organisms. A notable addition to this Alliance release are the member pages which link to organism or GO related data within the Alliance and to the model organism database or the GO Consortium. These pages can be accessed from the “Members” menu at the top of Alliance web pages. See the complete release notes for the 5.1.0 release.
3D structures for all proteins
AlphaFold is an AI system, created in partnership between DeepMind and the EMBL-European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), that makes predictions of a protein’s structure from its amino-acid sequence. Go to their webpage to look at your favourite protein from C. elegans, Brugia, Onchocerca, Strongyloides, Trichuris or Wuchereria. If your favourite protein is missing, remember that any protein with >90% amino acid similarity is quite likely to have a very similar structure. And if you spot any structure that does not look right contact help@wormbase.org, and we’ll forward your feedback.
Update on CeNeuro2022
Dear Participants of CeNeuro 2022,
We look forward to a rich and stimulating meeting this summer! To remind everyone, the date is set for July 24-27, 2022.
As uncertainty around the world continues, we cannot make a decision on the format at the moment. We desperately hope to be able to organize a hybrid meeting and welcome as many people as possible in person, in Vienna. However, we will re-evaluate this decision in mid/end of March and and if a hybrid meeting is not possible, we will still hold an online only meeting.
Regardless of the final format, please note that the deadline for abstract submission will be at the end of April. Thank you for your patience and understanding of the challenges associated with organizing such events at the moment.
We wish you a wonderful 2022,
–The CeNeuro2022 organizers – Henrik Bringmann, Luisa Cochella, Alexander Gottschalk, Manuel Zimmer.
Two new genes in C. elegans!
After more than 20 years of careful manual curation of C. elegans, it is quite unusual to find new protein-coding genes. But in release WS283 we have no less than 2 new genes! We were alerted to the first one by Dr. Adam Norris from Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, USA. Working with WormBase curators, we were able to comprehensively annotate the new gene. As finding a new gene is such a remarkable event, Dr. Norris opted for writing a micropublication describing the new gene WBGene00306123 (Y97E10C.2). Iyengar, A; Diamantakis, S; Norris, A (2021), “A new gene on C. elegans chromosome V”
Buoyed by the first discovery, WormBase curators looked through our curation records and found a second new gene to annotate: WBGene00306124 (W04B5.9). Both of these new genes are in release WS283, and we look forward to learning even more about the biology of these new genes.
If you happen to spot what you think is a new gene – please email help@wormbase.org to let our curators know about it!
Mentor Match Initiative 2022 – deadline approaching
Dear LabHeads,
Please share this information for postdoc and early career faculty prospective MENTEES so we can reach all interested community members. The request form will close DECEMBER 19.
The Mentor Match initiative started in 2020 as a means to foster diversity, equity and inclusion in the C. elegans research community. Mentoring within the larger C. elegans community, in contrast to intra-institutional mentoring, provides an opportunity for mentees to gain from the collective experience of the community. The community already does this on an ad hoc basis, but a more open and accessible mentoring program is needed, especially for people who are members of underrepresented groups in our community.
If you are a C. elegans postdoc or early career faculty member who would like to be matched with a mentor in the field, please fill the survey request form here. The MENTEE request form will close DECEMBER 19.
The survey request form includes a link to a list of prospective MENTORS and relevant information about their experience. Many thanks to the 56 prospective mentors who are available for the 2022 match!
For general information and logistics regarding the C. elegans Community Mentor Match Program, see this page (please ignore scheduling items on that page, if they are out of date)
With best wishes,
The C. elegans community mentor match committee for 2022