Functional Genomics using Caenorhabditis elegans as a model organism(报告时间:2009年10月23日下午3:00－4:00)
报告题目：Functional Genomics using Caenorhabditis elegans as a model organism
报告人：Professor Shohei Mitani,Department of Physiology, Tokyo Women’s Medical University School of Medicine，Japan
报告时间：2009年10月23日（星期五）下午3:00－4:00
报告地点：遗传发育所二号楼S2-102
联系人：杨崇林（64889375）
摘要：
Genome sequences of many important organisms including human have been determined. Having obtained huge sequence information, we wish to know how genes play roles in cells and organisms and how they are involved in diseases. To get insights into the functions of many genes, one straightforward way is to disrupt genes and see the phenotypes caused by those mutations. Another way is by adding gene function with transgenes. We have been using C. elegans as a model organism because it is the simplest model animal and have various tissue types common to other animals. C. elegans has about 20,000 genes, as shown by genome and EST analyses, which include many homologous genes to other organisms.
To obtain mutants of as many as genes, we have been using reverse genetics by random mutagenesis and PCR screening to find deletion mutations, which have shorter PCR fragments than those of wild-type alleles. We chose trimethylpsoralen and UV irradiation to introduce small deletions in the C. elegans genome. We use the stringent PCR method, which can detect a small amount of shorter mutant DNA among a large amount of wild-type DNA. By combining various technologies such as dispensing robots and a primer-designing program, we have isolated about 4,000 deletion mutants so far (about 500 alleles per year). Because C. elegans is also famous with the discovery of RNA interference, the first introduction of GFP transgenic system, we usually combine these technologies to analyze biological processes.
We are trying to examine, for example, how molecules play their roles in vesicular trafficking and protein folding regulation in endoplasmic reticulum. We found that SM protein families are important in endocytosis and certain proteases are important for ER function and secretion.
