Detailed knowledge of gene expression patterns in simple organisms can provide a solid platform from which to study the regulation of developmental processes in more complex organisms. Reinke et al. supply such a platform by identifying 5629 genes with distinct germline or sex-dependent expression profiles in the nematode worm, and by examining their spatial and temporal expression patterns (see p. 311). Their detailed work makes use of DNA microarrays corresponding to 92% of the predicted genes in the Caenorhabditis elegans genome. By examining gene expression profiles in mutants with defects in germline proliferation or gamete production, and in males and hermaphrodites, the researchers identify most of the worm's germline-expressed and sex-regulated genes. Among other things, their global overview uncovers striking biases in the distribution of these genes in the genome and in the classes of proteins they encode.
Sex and genes and nematode worms
Sex and genes and nematode worms. Development 15 January 2004; 131 (2): e201. doi:
Download citation file:
Advertisement
Cited by
Call for papers: Uncovering Developmental Diversity
Development invites you to submit your latest research to our upcoming special issue: Uncovering Developmental Diversity. This issue will be coordinated by our academic Editor Cassandra Extavour (Harvard University, USA) alongside two Guest Editors: Liam Dolan (Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology, Austria) and Karen Sears (University of California Los Angeles, USA).
Choose Development in 2024
In this Editorial, Development Editor-in-Chief James Briscoe and Executive Editor Katherine Brown explain how you support your community by publishing in Development and how the journal champions serious science, community connections and progressive publishing.
Journal Meeting: From Stem Cells to Human Development
Register now for the 2024 Development Journal Meeting From Stem Cells to Human Development. Early-bird registration deadline: 3 May. Abstract submission deadline: 21 June.
Pluripotency of a founding field: rebranding developmental biology
This collaborative Perspective, the result of a workshop held in 2023, proposes a set of community actions to increase the visibility of the developmental biology field. The authors make recommendations for new funding streams, frameworks for collaborations and mechanisms by which members of the community can promote themselves and their research.
Read & Publish Open Access publishing: what authors say
We have had great feedback from authors who have benefitted from our Read & Publish agreement with their institution and have been able to publish Open Access with us without paying an APC. Read what they had to say.