Expanding the C. elegans toolbox into a toolshed

摘要

Since Sydney Brenner's proposal to exploit Caenorhabditis elegans to unravel the genetic basis of metazoan development and the nervous system [1], technological developments have turned this model organism into one of the premier resources for studying multiple facets of cell biology. Several excellent compendia outline some of these methodological advancements [2-8]. In addition, the WormMetrjods section of WormBook (http://www.wormbook.org/ toc_wormmethods.html) provides a rich compilation of C. elegans methodology. The goal of this edition of Methods is to highlight recent innovations that have expanded the repertoire of techniques available to C. elegans investigators, and to update methods not covered extensively by these other references. The study of gene function by transgenesis is one of the most powerful technologies available to C elegans investigators. Recently, the application of genome editing has enhanced significantly the scope and precision of these methods. The first 8 articles of this edition of Methods provide added insight into these technologies. Waaijers and Boxem, discuss practical considerations in the use of the CR1SPR/Cas9 system to engineer the genome. They describe non-homologous end-joining or homologous recombination methods in combination with modified DNA templates [9].