Genetics Home   Molecular Biology 2nd Edition               Robert F. Weaver
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Chapter 24

  1. Hill et al. have performed the first genomic analysis of gene expression in a multicellular organism, the nematode C. elegans. They used oligonucleotide arrays to quantify gene expression throughout the development of this well characterized organism. Since the development of this simple metazoan is already relatively well understood at the cellular and genetic levels, the analysis of which genes are turned on when will allow an even greater understanding of development. Interestingly, evolutionarily conserved genes tend to be expressed first, followed by worm-specific genes. (Hill, A.A., C.P. Hunter, B.T. Tsung, G. Tucker-Kellog, and E.L. Brown. 2000. Genomic analysis of gene expression in C. elegans)

  2. Ren et al. have used microarrays to locate the genes that are targets for the yeast DNA-binding proteins Gal4 and Ste12. They followed the expression of these genes as the yeast cells responded to shifts in carbon source and mating pheromone, respectively. This study revealed the genes that are controlled by the two activators. Such genome-wide analysis, applied to many other activators, will allow the unraveling of complex gene regulatory networks. (Ren, B., F. Robert, J.J. Wyrick, O. Aparicio, E.G. Jennings, I. Simon, J. Zeitlinger, J. Schreiber, N. Hannett, E. Kanin, T.L. Volkert, C.J. Wilson, S.P. Bell, and R.A. Young. 2000. Genome-wide location and function of DNA binding proteins. Science 290:2306-09.

  3. Shortly after the publication of the sequence of C. elegans, Fraser et al. performed a detailed functional analysis of almost 90% of the genes on chromosome I of this organism, using RNA interference (RNAi). By feeding worms with bacteria expressing double-stranded RNA corresponding to the genes on chromosome I, they could assign a function to almost 14% of the genes analyzed. This expanded the number of chromosome I genes with a known phenotype from 70 to 378. The library of dsRNA-expressing bacteria is reusable, so this type of study can be repeated by other workers under different conditions to discover the functions of still more genes. (Graser, A.G., R.S. Kamath, P. Zipperfen, M. Martinez-Campos, M. Sohrmann, and J. Ahringer. 2000. Functional genomic analysis of C. elegans chromosome I by systematic RNA interference. Nature 408:325-30)

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