Genomics in C. elegans: So many genes, such a little worm
- LaDeana W. Hillier1,
- Alan Coulson2,3,
- John I. Murray4,
- Zhirong Bao4,
- John E. Sulston3, and
- Robert H. Waterston4,5
- 1 Genome Sequencing Center, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63108, USA
- 2 MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge CB2 2QH, United Kingdom
- 3 The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, United Kingdom
- 4 Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA
Abstract
The Caenorhabditis elegans genome sequence is now complete, fully contiguous telomere to telomere and totaling 100,291,840 bp. The sequence has catalyzed the collection of systematic data sets and analyses, including a curated set of 19,735 protein-coding genes—with >90% directly supported by experimental evidence—and >1300 noncoding RNA genes. High-throughput efforts are under way to complete the gene sets, along with studies to characterize gene expression, function, and regulation on a genome-wide scale. The success of the worm project has had a profound effect on genome sequencing and on genomics more broadly. We now have a solid platform on which to build toward the lofty goal of a true molecular understanding of worm biology with all its implications including those for human health.
Footnotes
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[Supplemental material is available online at www.genome.org.]
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Article and publication are at http://www.genome.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/gr.3729105.
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↵5 Corresponding author. E-mail waterston{at}gs.washington.edu; fax (206) 685-7301.
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
