Skip to main content
Log in

Uncover Genetic Interactions in Caenorhabditis elegans by RNA Interference

  • Published:
Bioscience Reports

RNA-mediated interference (RNAi) has emerged recently as one of the most powerful functional genomics tools. RNAi has been particularly effective in the nematode worm C. elegans where RNAi has been used to analyse the loss-of-function phenotypes of almost all predicted genes. In this review, we illustrate how RNAi has been used to analyse gene function in C. elegans as well as pointing to some future directions for using RNAi to examine genetic interactions in a systematic manner.

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

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • K. E. Berns M. Hijmans J. Mullenders T. R. Brummelkamp A. Velds M. Heimerikx R. M. Kerkhoven M. Madiredjo W. Nijkamp B. Weigelt R. Agami W. Ge G. Cavet P. S. Linsley R. L. Beijersbergen R. Bernards (2004) ArticleTitleA large-scale RNAi screen in human cells identifies new components of the p53 pathway Nature 428 431–437 Occurrence Handle10.1038/nature02371 Occurrence Handle1:CAS:528:DC%2BD2cXisVGlsLY%3D

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • M. Boutros A. A. Kiger S. Armknecht K. Kerr M. Hild B. Koch S. A. Haas H. F. Consortium R. Paro N. Perrimon (2004) ArticleTitleGenome-wide RNAi analysis of growth and viability in Drosophila cells Science 303 832–835 Occurrence Handle10.1126/science.1091266 Occurrence Handle1:CAS:528:DC%2BD2cXovVKmsA%3D%3D

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • C. Chang P. W. Sternberg (1998) ArticleTitleC. elegans vulval development as a model system to study the cancer biology of EGFR signaling Cancer Metastasis Rev. 18 203–213

    Google Scholar 

  • E. L. Ferguson H. R. Horvitz (1989) ArticleTitleThe multivulva phenotype of certain Caenorhabditis elegans mutans results from defect in two functionally redundant pathways Genetics 123 109–121 Occurrence Handle1:STN:280:By%2BD3svhtVI%3D

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • A. S. Fire Xu M. K. Montgomery S. A. Kostas S. E. Driver C. C. Mello (1998) ArticleTitlePotent and specific genetic interference by double-stranded RNA in Caenorhabitis elegans Nature 391 806–811

    Google Scholar 

  • A. G. Fraser R. S. Kamath P. Zipperlen M. Martinez-Campos M. Sohrmann J. Ahringer (2000) ArticleTitleFunctional genomic analysis of C. elegans chromosome I by systematic RNA interference Nature 408 325–330 Occurrence Handle1:CAS:528:DC%2BD3cXosVelsrc%3D

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • I. S. Greenwald P. W. Sternberg H. R. Horvitz (1983) ArticleTitleThe lin-12 locus specifies cell fates in Caenorhabditis elegans Cell 34 435–444 Occurrence Handle10.1016/0092-8674(83)90377-X Occurrence Handle1:STN:280:BiuD3c3isFU%3D

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • S. M. Hammond E. Bernstein D. Beach G. J Hannon (2000) ArticleTitleAn RNA-directed nuclease mediates post-transcriptional gene silencing in Drosophila cells Nature 404 293–296 Occurrence Handle1:CAS:528:DC%2BD3cXit1agtrw%3D

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • G. J. Hannon (Eds) (2003) RNAi. A Guide to Gene Silencing Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press Cold Spring Harbor, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • M. O. Hengartner (1997) Cell death D. L. Riddle T. Blumenthal B. J. Meyer J. R. Priess (Eds) C. elegans II Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press New York

    Google Scholar 

  • I. A. Hope (1999) Background on Caenorhabditis elegans I. A. Hope (Eds) C. elegans. A pratical approach Oxford University Press Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Kamath, R. S., Martinez-Campos, M., Zipperlen, P., Fraser, A. G., and Ahringer, M. J. (2001) Effectiveness of specific RNA-mediated interference through ingested double-stranded RNA in C. elegans. Genome Biol. 2.

  • R. S. Kamath A. G. Fraser Y. Dong G. Pouling R. Durbin M. Gotta A. Kanapin N. Bot ParticleLe S. Moreno M. Sohrmann D. P. Welchman P. Zipperlen J. Ahringer (2003) ArticleTitleSystematic functional analysis of the Caenorhabditis elegans genome using RNAi Nature 421 231–237 Occurrence Handle10.1038/nature01278 Occurrence Handle1:CAS:528:DC%2BD3sXjsF2htg%3D%3D

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • X. Lu H. R. Horvitz (1998) ArticleTitleLin-35 and lin-53, two genes that antagonize a C. elegans Ras pathway, encode proteins similar to Rb and its binding protein RbAp48 Cell 95 981–991 Occurrence Handle1:CAS:528:DyaK1MXjslyksA%3D%3D

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • I. Maeda Y. Kohara M. Yamamoto A. Sugimoto (2001) ArticleTitleLarge-scale analysis of gene function in Caenorhabditis elegans by high-throughput RNAi Curr. Biol. 11 171–176 Occurrence Handle10.1016/S0960-9822(01)00052-5 Occurrence Handle1:CAS:528:DC%2BD3MXhtlGlu7s%3D

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • N. Moghal P. W. Sternberg (2003) ArticleTitleThe epidermal growth factor system in Caenorhabditis elegans Exp. Cell Res. 284 150–159 Occurrence Handle10.1016/S0014-4827(02)00097-6 Occurrence Handle1:CAS:528:DC%2BD3sXitVyltLs%3D

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • F. Piano A. J. Schetter M. Mangone L. Stein K. J Kemphues (2000) ArticleTitleRNAi analysis of genes expressed in the ovary of Caenorhabditis elegans Curr. Biol. 24 1619–1622

    Google Scholar 

  • F. Piano A. J. Schetter D. G. Morton K. C. Gunsalus V. Reinke S. K. Kim K. J. Kemphues (2002) ArticleTitleGene clustering based on RNAi phenotypes of ovary-enriched genes in C. elegans Curr. Biol. 22 1959–1964

    Google Scholar 

  • D. L. Riddle T. Blumenthal B. J. Meyer J. R. Priess (Eds) (1997) C. elegans II Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press New York

    Google Scholar 

  • P. W. Sternberg M. Han (1998) ArticleTitleGenetics of RAS signaling in C. elegans Trends Genet. 14 466–472 Occurrence Handle10.1016/S0168-9525(98)01592-3 Occurrence Handle1:CAS:528:DyaK1cXns1yqsLs%3D

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • H. Tabara A. Grishok C. C. Mello (1998) ArticleTitleRNAi in C. elegans: soaking in the genome sequence Science 282 430–431 Occurrence Handle10.1126/science.282.5388.430 Occurrence Handle1:CAS:528:DyaK1cXmslaqt7s%3D

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • The C. elegans Sequencing Consortium (1998) Genome sequence of the nematode C. elegans: a platform for investigating biology. Science 282:2012–2018.

  • L. Timmons A. Fire (1998) ArticleTitleSpecific interference by ingested dsRNA Nature 395 854 Occurrence Handle10.1038/27579 Occurrence Handle1:CAS:528:DyaK1cXntlKjsLc%3D

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • L. Timmons D. L. Court A. Fire (2001) ArticleTitleIngestion of bacterially expressed dsRNAs can produce specific and potent genetic interference in Caenorhabditis elegans Gene 263 103–112 Occurrence Handle10.1016/S0378-1119(00)00579-5 Occurrence Handle1:CAS:528:DC%2BD3MXht1Oku70%3D

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Angelo Fortunato.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Fortunato, A., Fraser, A.G. Uncover Genetic Interactions in Caenorhabditis elegans by RNA Interference. Biosci Rep 25, 299–307 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10540-005-2892-7

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10540-005-2892-7

Keywords

Navigation