The genetics of Caenorhabditis elegans.

  

Genetics, Vol. 77, No. 1. (1 May 1974), pp. 71-94

by S. Brenner

This paper is recommended by Marty Chalfie (Columbia University), who writes:

The Brenner paper is a classic; when does someone have an opportunity to outline the genetics of an entire organism. It is also a terrific paper to go over basis genetic ideas. nearly all the variation affecting gene expression resides.his


Because it's brief, I'm going to quote the entire abstract from this classic:


Methods are described for the isolation, complementation and mapping of mutants of Caenorhabditis elegans, a small free-living nematode worm. About 300 EMS-induced mutants affecting behavior and morphology have been characterized and about one hundred genes have been defined. Mutations in 77 of these alter the movement of the animal. Estimates of the induced mutation frequency of both the visible mutants and X chromosome lethals suggests that, just as in Drosophila, the genetic units in C. elegans are large.

Selection at linked sites shapes heritable phenotypic variation in C. elegans

Selection at linked sites shapes heritable phenotypic variation in C. elegans.

  

Science (New York, N.Y.), Vol. 330, No. 6002. (15 October 2010), pp. 372-376, doi:10.1126/science.1194208

by Matthew V. Rockman, Sonja S. Skrovanek, Leonid Kruglyak

This paper is recommended by Eric Haag (University of Maryland), who writes:

This paper is a real gem of interdisciplinary genetics thinking. Its key insight is that how natural selection impacts gene expression is highly subject to the overall frequency and chromosomal distribution of recombination (to the point of outweighing the biological processes affected).   Rockman shows that in mostly selfing nematodes like C. elegans, the central 50% of each autosome more or less acts like a "supergene" that harbors very little variation affecting gene expression genome-wide.  In contrast, the terminal 1/4 on either side is where nearly all the variation affecting gene expression resides. The available evidence suggests this occurs because selective sweeps wipe out the variation over much of the central domain of each automosome.

Competition between ADAR and RNAi pathways for an extensive class of RNA targets

Competition between ADAR and RNAi pathways for an extensive class of RNA targets.

  

Nature structural & molecular biology, Vol. 18, No. 10. (11 October 2011), pp. 1094-1101, doi:10.1038/nsmb.2129

by Diane Wu, Ayelet T. Lamm, Andrew Z. Fire

This paper is recommended by Antony Jose (University of Maryland), who writes:

This work is a particularly elegant illustration of the powerful combination of computational methods with biochemical isolation of RNA from different genetic backgrounds. The discovery of numerous sites genome-wide where the transcribed RNA is edited by ADAR is noteworthy.

A whole-genome RNAi Screen for C. elegans miRNA pathway genes

A whole-genome RNAi Screen for C. elegans miRNA pathway genes.

Current biology : CB, Vol. 17, No. 23. (4 December 2007), pp. 2013-2022, doi:10.1016/j.cub.2007.10.058

by Devin H. Parry, Jinling Xu, Gary Ruvkun

I use this paper in my graduate genetics course. It describes a whole-genome screen of C. elegans using RNA interference, provides an example of whole-genome parallel reverse genetic screens, and illustrates both the microRNA biosynthesis pathway and a bit of C. elegans biology.