Skip to main content

Embryogenesis in Caenorhabditis elegans

  • Chapter
Development

Abstract

Caenorhabditis elegans is a small soil nematode which is currently being extensively studied to discern general principles of how genes control development. The short life cycle, ability to culture in quantities sufficient for biochemical work, well-developed genetics, small cell number for a rather sophisticated animal, and rapidly increasing possibilities for molecular genetics are features that make this species a very productive system for study.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Emmons SW (1987) Mechanisms of C. elegans development. Cell 51:881–883.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Kenyon C (1988) The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Science 240:1448–1453.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. White J (1988) The Anatomy. In: Wood WB (ed) The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, chapter 4. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York, pp 81–122.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Wood WB (ed) (1988) The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York

    Google Scholar 

  5. Wood WB (1988) Introduction to C. elegans biology. In: Wood WB (ed) The nematode Carnorhabditis elegans, chapter 1. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York, pp 1–17.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Sulston J (1988) Cell Lineage. In: Wood WB (ed) The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, chapter 5. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York, pp 123–156.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Sulston J, Schierenberg E, White J, Thomson N (1983) The embryonic cell lineage of the nematode C. elegans. Dev Biol 100:64–119.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Herman RK (1988) Genetics. In: Wood WB (ed) The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, chapter 2. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York, pp 17–46.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Herman R (1988) Mosaic analysis in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. J Neurogenet5:1–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Hodgkin J, Kondo K, Waterston R (1987) Suppression in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Trends Genet 3:325–329.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Coulson A, Sulston J, Brenner S, Karn J (1976) Toward a physical map of the genome of the nematode C. elegans. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 83:7821–7825.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Emmons SW (1988) The genome. In: Wood WB (ed) The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, chapter 3. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York, pp 47–80.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Fire A (1986) Integrative transformation of Caenorhabditis elegans. EMBO J 5:2673–2680.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Kimble J, Ward S (1988) Germ-line development and fertilization. In: Wood WB (ed) The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, chapter 7. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York, pp 191–214.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Wood WB (1988) Embryology. In: Wood WB (ed) The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, chapter 8. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York, pp 215–242.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Ito K, McGhee J (1987) Parental DNA strands segregate randomly during embryonic development of Caenorhabditis elegans. Cell 49:329–336.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Hyman A (1989) Centrosome movement in the early divisions of Caenorhabditis elegans: a cortical site determining centrosome position. J Cell Biol 109:1185–1193.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Hyman A, White J (1987) Determination of cell division axes in the early embryogenesis of Caenorhabditis elegans. J Cell Biol 105:2123–2135.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Kemphues K (1989) Caenorhabditis. In: Grover DM, Hames BD (eds) Genes and embryos. IRL Press at Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 95–126.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Schierenberg E (1989) Cytoplasmic determination and distribution of developmental potential in the embryo of Caenorhabditis elegans. Bio Essays 10:99–104.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Strome S (1989) Generation of cell diversity during early embryogenesis in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Int Rev Cytol 114:81–123.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Hill D, Strome S (1988) An analysis of the role of microfilaments in the establishment and maintenance of asymmetry in Caenorhabditis elegans zygotes. Dev Biol 125:75–84.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Hill DP, Strome S (1990) Brief cytochalasin-induced disruption of microfilaments during a critical interval in 1-cell G elegans embryos alters the partitioning of developmental instructions to the 2-cell embryo. Development 108:159–172.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Strome S, Wood W (1983) Generation of asymmetry and segregation of germ-line granules in early C. elegans embryos. Cell 35:15–25.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Schierenberg E, Wood W (1985) Control of cell-cycle timing in early embryos of Caenorhabditis elegans. Dev Biol 107:337–354.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Edgar L, McGhee J (1986) Embryonic expression of a gutspecific esterase in Caenorhabditis elegans. Dev Biol 114:109–118.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Edgar L, McGhee J (1988) DNA synthesis and the control of embryonic gene expression in C. elegans. Cell 53:589–599.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Laufer J, Bazzicalupo P, Wood W (1980) Segregation of developmental potential in early embryos of Caenorhabditis elegans. Cell 19:569–577.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Schierenberg E (1985) Cell determination during early embryogenesis of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Symp Quant Biol 50:59–68.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Aamodt E, Chung M, McGhee J (1991) Spatial control of gut-specific gene expression during C. elegans development. Science 252:579–582.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. McGhee J (1991) Gut esterase expression in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. In: Wassarman PM (ed) Advances in Developmental Biochemistry. JAI Press, Conneticut.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Cowan AE, McIntosh JR (1985) Mapping the distribution of differentiation potential for intestine, muscle, and hypodermis during early development in Caenorhabditis elegans. Cell41:923–932.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Priess J, Thomson J (1987) Cellular interactions in early C. elegans embryos. Cell 48:241–250.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Sulston J, Schierenberg E, White J, Thomson N (1983) The embryonic cell lineage of the nematode C. elegans. Dev Biol 100:64–119.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. Wood WB (1991) Reversal of handedness in C. elegans embryos: new evidence for early cell interactions determining cell fates. Nature 349:536–538.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. Herman R (1978) Crossover suppressors and balanced recessive lethals in Caenorhabditis elegans. Genetics 88:49–65.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  37. Kemphues K (1988) Genetic analysis of embryogenesis in Caenorhabditis elegans. In: Malacinski G (ed) Developmental genetics of higher organisms: a primer in developmental biology. MacMillan, New York, pp 193–220.

    Google Scholar 

  38. Kemphues K (1989) Caenorhabditis. In: Grover DM, Hames BD (eds) Genes and embryos. IRL Press at Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 95–126.

    Google Scholar 

  39. Kemphues K, Kusch M, Wolf N (1988) Maternal-effect mutations on linkage group II of Caenorhabditis elegans. Genetics 120:977–986.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  40. Miwa J, Schierenberg E, Miwa S, von Ehrenstein G (1980) Genetics and mode of expression of temperature-sensitive mutations arresting embryonic development in Caenorhabditis elegans. Dev Biol 76:160–174.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  41. Sigurdson D, Spanier G, Herman R (1984) Caenorhabditis elegans deficiency mapping. Genetics 108:331–345.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  42. Wood WB (1988) Embryology. In: Wood WB(ed) The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York, pp 215–241.

    Google Scholar 

  43. Wood W, Hecht R, Carr S, Vanderslice R, Wolf N, Hirsh D (1980) Parental effects and phenotypic characterization of mutations that affect early development in Caenorhabditis elegans. Dev Biol 74:446–469.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  44. Hill DP, Shakes DC, Ward S, Strome S (1989) A sperm-supplied product essential for initiation of normal embryogenesis in Caenorhabditis elegans is encoded by the paternal-effect embryonic-lethal gene, spe-11. Dev Biol 136:154–166.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  45. Kemphues K, Priess J, Morton D, Cheng N (1988) Identification of genes required for cytoplasmic localization in early C. elegans embryos. Cell 52:311–320.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  46. Kirby C, Kusch M, Kemphues K (1990) Mutations in the par genes of Caenorhabditis elegans affect cytoplasmic reorganization during the first cell cycle. Dev Biol 142:203-215.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  47. Mains P, Sulston I, Wood W (1990) Dominant maternal-effect mutations causing embryonic lethality in Caenorhabditis elegans. Genetics 125:351–369.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  48. Mains P, Kemphues K, Sprunger S, Sulston I (1990) Mutations affecting the meiotic and mitotic divisions of the early Caenorhabditis elegans embryo. Genetics 126:593–605.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  49. Schnabel R, Schnabel H (1990) Early determination in the C. elegans embryo: a gene, cib-1, required to specify a set of stem-cell-like blastomeres. Development 108:107–119.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  50. Capowski E, Martin P, Garves C, Strome S (1991) Identification of Grandchildless loci whose products are required for normal germ-line development in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Genetics 129:1061–1072.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  51. Austin J, Kimble J (1987) glp-1 is required in the germ line for regulation of the decision between mitosis and meiosis in C. elegans. Cell 51:589–599.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  52. Austin J, Kimble J (1989) Transcript analysis of glp-1 and lin-12, homologous genes required for cell interactions during development of C. elegans. Cell 58:565–571.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  53. Greenwald I (1989) Cell-cell interactions that specify certain cell fates in C. elegans development. Trends Genet 5:237–241.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  54. Maine E, Kimble J (1989) Identification of genes that interact with glp-1, a gene required for inductive cell interactions in Caenorhabditis elegans. Development 105:133–143.

    Google Scholar 

  55. Priess J, Schnabel H, Schnabel R (1987) The glp-1 locus and cellular interactions in early C. elegans embryos. Cell 51:601–611.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  56. Yochem J, Greenwald I (1989) glp-1 and lin-12, genes implicated in distinct cell-cell interactions in G elegans encode similar transmembrane proteins. Cell 58:553–563.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  57. Edgar L (1991) Personal communication.

    Google Scholar 

  58. Hecht R, Gossett L, Jeffery W (1981) Ontogeny of maternal and newly transcribed mRNA analyzed by in situ hybridization during development of Caenorhabditis elegans. Dev Biol 83:374–379.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  59. Schauer I, Wood WB (1990) Early C. elegans embryos are transcriptionally active. Development 110:1303–1317.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  60. Storfer F (1990) Contributions of embryonic gene expression to early embryogenesis in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans: a genetic analysis. Ph D Thesis, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO

    Google Scholar 

  61. Hecht R, Berg-Zabelshansky M, Rao P, Davis M (1987) Conditional absence of mitosis-specific antigens in a temperature-sensitive embryonic-arrest mutant of Caenorhabditis elegans. J Cell Sci 87:305–314.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  62. Rothman J (1991) Personal communication.

    Google Scholar 

  63. Schnabel R, Schnabel H (1990) An organ-specific differentiation gene, pha-1, from Caenorhabditis elegans. Science 250:686–688.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  64. Burglin TR, Finney M, Coulson A, Ruvkun G (1989) Caenorhabditis elegans has scores of homeobox-containing genes. Nature 341:239–242.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  65. Kamb A, Weir M, Rudy B, Varmus H, Kenyon C (1989) Identification of genes from pattern formation, tyrosine kinase, and potassium channel families by DNA amplification. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 86:4372–4376.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  66. Kenyon C, Wang B (1991) A cluster of Antennapedia-class homeobox genes in a non-segmented animal. Science 253:516–517.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  67. Krause M, Fire A, Harrison S, Priess J, Weintraub H (1990) CeMyoD accumulation defines the bodywall muscle cell fate during C. elegans embroygenesis. Cell 63:907–919.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  68. Rothman J (1990) Personal communication.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1992 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Edgar, L. (1992). Embryogenesis in Caenorhabditis elegans . In: Development. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-77043-2_20

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-77043-2_20

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-77045-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-77043-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics