WormClassroom

C. elegans-related art and scientific images printed on postcards, coasters, t-shirts, mugs, and more.

Hosted by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. It links to Caenorhabditis Genome Sequencing Projects.

C. elegans compendium: from recent research through papers, movies, worm literature sources to laboratories. It contains a good source of comprehensive (also for non-specialist) background information.

Provides various search engines (Google, NCBI, PubMed, etc.) for searching information about C. elegans. It is a “search site for linking to researchers, research topics, and resources in molecular, cellular, system, and organism biology.”

A virtual library with information about “what is a model organism?”, “general model organism resources”, “comparative genomics of model and other organsisms” and also information about popular model organisms.

A specially-designed search for scientific texts by keyword and category.

Scientific art to satisfy your inner aesthete.

The most comprehensive site for C. elegans research resources.

WormBook is the online text companion to WormBase, the C. elegans model organism database. WormBook contains original reviews on all aspects of C. elegans biology and up-to-date descriptions of technical procedures used to study this animal.

Why study C. elegans? C. elegans general biology, e.g.: development, life cycle, chromosomes is introduced.

View, analyze and annotate Multi-D movies of cells, proteins, and genes in nematode embryogenesis

With animation, it describes how lymphocytes process antigens to produce antibodies.

Information about microscopy for students of all ages.

Here you can find not only research projects but also fun stuff: games, quizzes and images. The lab studies the mechanisms of mechanotransduction (how mechanical signals are interpreted by cells) and necrotic cell death (abnormal self-destruction).

This site presents diverse research taking place on Vanderbilt campus. One of current projects is Miller’s “worm farm” which studies a mutant worm that can’t move backwards. The researchers try to investigate the genetic background of the process.

The aim of this lab is to investigate the genetic basis of innate immunity. That means gaining insight into processes that make hosts either resistant or susceptible to bacteria. Researchers are trying to find differences and similarities between immune system in the worm and the vertabrate immune system.

This lab is investigating germ cell fates. They are interested in questions such as what factors trigger meiosis or mitosis in cell and what causes germ cells to differentiate either into oocytes or sperm.

Website focused on polarity in embryo development, especially during the first cell division. The research of interest includes determining how asymmetrical division works in the zygote.

This lab studies the synaptonemal complex – a structure found during meiosis. Assembly of this structure may be studied in C.elegans because its germ line cells account for more than a half of the cells in the worm.

Study of DNA damage signaling, cell cycle and apoptosis in correlation with cancer tumor diagnostics. The objective is to find out what is required to initiate self-repair or self-destruction processes in cells.

This site presents movies from embryo to adult worm.

A map of the interactome network of the metazoan C.elegans.

The website is still under construction, but the lab investigates sex determination – in particular, what factors make a developing organism decide to become female or male. They are also interested in X chromosome compensation and segregation during division.

The research focus is on muscle development in C. elegans, with emphasis on proteins that make up a sarcomere.

It is a special project conducted by NASA based on effects of spaceflight on C. elegans, with emphasis on tissue development, cell apoptosis, muscle physiology and gene expression.

Researchers in the Seydoux lab study mechanisms that distinguish the formation of somatic cells from germ cells in C. elegans. One of the projects investigates molecular regulators responsible for germ cell fate, another focuses on protein degradation in determining embryonic polarity.

This website provides a study of mechanisms and regulators of apoptosis in C. elegans. Research is based on genes that decide about cell fate. The second part of research is aimed at understanding the development and roles of glial cells (a poorly understood but common cell type in the human brain).

Website on the role of genes in germ cell development. The focus is on the distal tip cell (DTC) (a structure that determines when germ cells should enter meiosis) and genes that are crucial for other stages of meiosis. Shedl Lab is also interested in molecular determinants of gender.

Researchers in this lab are studying mutations characteristic only for germ cells. They are trying to understand the processes occurring at fertilization and the genes that are involved.

The main interest of the lab is the positioning organelles in cell. The Starr Lab is trying to identify proteins that contribute to nuclear migration and understand its importance.

How does development from a single cell to a complicated organ occur? This includes investigations on cell-signaling in the formation of left-asymmetry as well as apoptosis regulation.

This is a study of regulatory molecules crucial for the development of C. elegans cells during morphogenesis. Research may be related in the future to the study of cancer.

Research in the Chrisholm lab focuses on tissue differentiation. The point is to investigate the processes that occurr while cells remodel their shape to acquire a new role in the body. That means understanding genetic regulators responsible for transcription.

The Chu Group investigates reasons for male infertility. Proteins that build up sperm chromatin may be important in this phenomenon and therefore researchers use molecular approach to study this process.

This website presents study of genetic basics for animal development and behavior. That means scrutinizing genes important for development and identifying anatomical foci of these genes.

The Lithgow lab focuses on the phenomenon of ageing using the worm. That involves finding aging genes and investigating factors that accelerate or inhibit ageing, such as antioxidants, hormones, DNA damages etc.

The aim of of the lab is to study sex determination and sexual differentiation. Since C. elegans can be either a hermaphrodite or male it provides a great opportunity for the Spence group to investigate the genetics underlying this process.

In this lab genetics is used to research cell development – differentiation, specialization and factors that trigger specific cell patterns. Additionally, the Sternberg group investigates mating behavior in order to identify genes responsible for neuronal functions.

Germline and embryo development in C. elegans.

One goal of Ambros research is to understand more about the genetic and molecular mechanisms that control C. elegans development. This is done by analyzing genes that affect the timing of the larval stages. Currently the special interest is small RNAs (microRNAs).

This website presents developmental biology in context of embryonic induction: what processes need to occur so that a simple cell becomes specialized and what factors determine its fate.

The Ward Lab is a great resource for information about genetics, genomics and genes. It includes links to other labs and websites. The ongoing research is on sperm development and maturation.

Emmons lab is conducting investigations on cell fate specification, nervous system development, evolution and sexual behavior in C. elegans. They are trying to find answers for questions such as: how do genes determine behavior, how does a genetic program evolve, and how do patterning genes determine the properties of neurons.

Main focus of the lab is to determine the role of genes in generating organism and population diversity through evolution. Currently there are three related research projects: male tail development (to study the processes influencing morphogenesis), evolution and systematics of nematode

Gronostajski Lab researches interactions between proteins, DNA, RNA transcription and metazoan development. In particular they study the Nuclear Factor I (NFI) and T-box families of site-specific DNA binding proteins. The NFI is expressed primarily during embryogenesis whereas in vertebrates it is also expressed in the adult.

The research of this laboratory is directed at understanding the evolutionary and developmental mechanisms that occur when a cell grows and divides. In particular, this lab is interested in the evolution of body size in nematodes.

“A database of behavioral and structural anatomy of C. elegans.” This website provides lab methods such as cell identification. There is also a discussion forum.

“AceView offers an integrated view of the human, nematode and Arabidopsis genes reconstructed by co-alignment of all publicly available mRNAs and ESTs on the genome sequence.”

A very comprehensive website that covers materials from evolution/development through gene identification by expressed sequence tags to a variety of nematodes.

Its mission is to facilitate genetic research of C. elegans through the production of deletion alleles at specified gene targets.

All about C. elegans genome. This is a good place to look up a gene or a chromosome and to compare them with other species.

Hosted at the University of Minnesota. This site contains links to Worm Breeder’s Gazette (WBG), C. elegans bibliography, C. elegans nomenclature and C. elegans strain list, etc.

The Fire Lab studies how cells respond the introduction of foreign or unwanted genomic materials. One of the interesting experiments done was to inject foreign DNA or RNA into cells and it is not expressed (silencing effect). The major emphasis of the lab is now on the mechanism of RNAi.

This is a powerful site about C. elegans genome sequencing: history, methods and current projects worldwide (contains advanced data).

Gene expression coordination during animal development is what this lab studies. Currently the Hope Lab employs GFP fusion proteins to better understand the organization of gene expression during development time.

A set of tools used for browsing cDNA alignments in the C. elegans genome. There are also links to websites including methods of DNA sequencing, introns, exons or cDNA pasting.

Because of similarities with the human genome, C. elegans may be used to study human pathologies. NemaGENETAG consortium is aiming to create a transposon library because transposons systems may be used for many genome manipulations, such as inserting new sequences.

Note: this link is included as a “legacy” – it has not been updated since 1996. For more recent information on Ronald Plasterk, see his Wikipedia entry.

Their research concentrates on how the genome is protected from mutations and transposons phenomenon. It is not well understood how transposon regulation and mutator genes function and what their role in preventing mutations in the genome is.

Results from RNAi phenotypic analysis of genes in C. elegans can be found.

This lab is interested in cell migration. Researchers are studying the mechanisms that lead a cell to its target and the genes that participate in this guidance.

The genes we share with yeasts, flies, worms and mice: New clues to human health & disease.

Explains the specifics of C.elegans gene naming.

The research aim of this lab is how crystal proteins may protect plants from nematode and other animals that are trying to eat them. C. elegans is used as a model organism to understand what makes the worms either susceptible or resistant to these substances.
An interesting side of this research is that nematodes have an innate immune system in contrast to higher animals which have an adaptive immune system.

Study of neurotransmitters release and mechanisms governing adaptation to nicotinic agonists is presented on this website

It is a great place to find various lab techniques used in C. elegans research.

Do genes influence behavior? Researchers from this lab are trying to determine the role of genes in the behavior of C. elegans. Sensory neurons in contact with noxious stimuli causes solitary behavior whereas positive environmental signals result in more social behavior.

Neural development studies in this lab concentrate on specialized neurons and synaptic connections between them. One of the projects examines genes responsible for expression of a phenotype which impairs the worm’s ability to move smoothly – what are the properties of the locomotive neuron and its genetic program. Another study examines the remodeling of motor neurons during life which is quite unusual: the cell morphology stays the same but information is reversed.

Synapses play a crucial role in brain signaling and, consequently, in behavior. The focus of Kaplan Group is to investigate signaling in the worm brain in relation to synaptic diversity and how differences between the signals affect their functions. A current project examines two G proteins (Go and Gq) that antagonistically regulate neurotransmitter secretion in specific synapses.

C. elegans is used to research neuron development. The major questions that interest this lab are: what does it take to form a highly specialized neuronal cell and what are the molecular processes involved in mechanosensation (the formation of the various senses).

Members of Portman group define their objectives in these questions: how does the genome encode the information that generates a functional nervous system, how do genetic regulatory networks ensure that neurons of the right type are generated in the right place, at the right time and in the right number, and how do the resulting neuronal circuits integrate sensory information and generate coherent behavioral outputs.

This neurological lab is investigating the development of sensory circuits indispensable not only for touch avoidance or chemotaxis but also for nicotine adaptation.

Research in this lab focuses on the olfactory and thermosensory neurons. The main areas of interest include the molecular basis that determines a cell’s neuronal fate, acquisition of specialized functions and plasticity of sensory behaviors (changes in neuronal receptors in particular life stages or under specific conditions, such as food depravation).

There are three stages to neural development: cell fate specification, axon guidance and synapse formation. The Shen Lab studies processes occurring during and after axon guidance, in particular synapse formation.

Research in this lab concentrates primarily on synapses, in particular GTP-ase proteins that participate in synaptic transmission. By investigating two rab proteins, researchers are trying to find out that what their role is in secretion. Another aspect of this project is identifying genes that regulate these processes.

The gene fax-1 is responsible for the development of certain neurons. The Wightman Lab is studying mutations in this gene that, in humans, may cause blindness by disrupting photoreceptors cells in the retina.

This website examines associative learning in C. elegans in the context of chemotactic movements. So far, researchers have found that worms can learn to distinguish between differnt ions. This type of analysis permits the study of genes necessary for learning.

Discusses current techniques for researching C. elegans. Recently revived; full archives are also available on the site.

The Worm Breeder’s Gazette is an informal, non-refereed, biannual newsletter for the interchange of ideas and information related to C. elegans and other nematodes. The WBG provides an opportunity for researchers to announce experimental results not yet published, correct errors in or supplement published work, and describe methods and techniques that might be useful to the whole community.