Open-reading-frame sequence tags (OSTs) support the existence of at least 17,300 genes in C. elegans

The genome sequences of Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila melanogaster and Arabidopsis thaliana have been predicted to contain 19,000, 13,600 and 25,500 genes, respectively. Before this information can be fully used for evolutionary and functional studies, several issues need to be addressed. First, the gene number estimates obtained in silico and not yet supported by any experimental data need to be verified. For example, it seems biologically paradoxical that C. elegans would have 50% more genes than Drosophilia. Second, intron/exon predictions need to be tested experimentally. Third, complete sets of open reading frames (ORFs), or "ORFeomes," need to be cloned into various expression vectors. To address these issues simultaneously, we have designed and applied to C. elegans the following strategy. Predicted ORFs are amplified by PCR from a highly representative cDNA library using ORF-specific primers, cloned by Gateway recombination cloning and then sequenced to generate ORF sequence tags (OSTs) as a way to verify identity and splicing. In a sample (n=1,222) of the nearly 10,000 genes predicted ab initio (that is, for which no expressed sequence tag (EST) is available so far), at least 70% were verified by OSTs. We also observed that 27% of these experimentally confirmed genes have a structure different from that predicted by GeneFinder. We now have experimental evidence that supports the existence of at least 17,300 genes in C. elegans. Hence we suggest that gene counts based primarily on ESTs may underestimate the number of genes in human and in other organisms.

Initial sequencing and analysis of the human genome

The human genome holds an extraordinary trove of information about human development, physiology, medicine and evolution. Here we report the results of an international collaboration to produce and make freely available a draft sequence of the human genome. We also present an initial analysis of the data, describing some of the insights that can be gleaned from the sequence.

WormBase: network access to the genome and biology of Caenorhabditis elegans

WormBase (http://www.wormbase.org) is a web-based resource for the Caenorhabditis elegans genome and its biology. It builds upon the existing ACeDB database of the C.elegans genome by providing data curation services, a significantly expanded range of subject areas and a user-friendly front end.

let-756, a C. elegans fgf essential for worm development

In vertebrates, Fibroblast Growth Factors (FGFs) and their receptors are involved in various developmental and pathological processes, including neoplasia. The number of FGFs and their large range of activities have made the understanding of their precise functions difficult. Investigating their biology in other species might be enlightening. A sequence encoding a putative protein presenting 30-40% identity with the conserved core of vertebrate FGFs has been identified by the C. elegans sequencing consortium. We show here that this gene is transcribed and encodes a putative protein of 425 amino acids (aa). The gene is expressed at all stages of development beyond late embryogenesis, peaking at the larval stages. Loss-of-function mutants of the let-756 gene are rescued by the wild type fgf gene in germline transformation experiments. Two partial loss-of-function alleles, s2613 and s2809, have a mutation that replaces aa 317 by a stop. The truncated protein retains the FGF core but lacks a C-termins portion. These worms are small and develop slowly into clear and scrawny, yet viable and fertile adults. A third allele, s2887, is inactivated by an inversion that disrupts the first exon. It causes a developmental arrest early in the larval stages. Thus, in contrast to the other nematode fgf gene egl-17, let-756/fgf is essential for worm development.

Scriptable access to the Caenorhabditis elegans genome sequence and other ACEDB databases

Much of the world's genomic data are available to the community through networked databases that are accessed via Web interfaces. Although this paradigm provides browse-level access and has greatly facilitated linking between databases, it does not provide any convenient mechanism for programmatically fetching and integrating data from diverse databases. We have created a library and an application programming interface (API) named AcePerl that provides simple, direct access to ACEDB databases from the Perl programming language. With this library, programmers and computer-savvy biologists can write software to pose complex queries on local and remote ACEDB databases, retrieve the data, integrate the results, and move data objects from one database to another. In addition, a set of Web scripts running on top of AcePerl provides Web-based browsing of any local or remote ACEDB database. AcePerl and the AceBrowser Web browser run on Unix systems and are available under a license that allows for unrestricted use and redistribution. Both packages can be downloaded from URL. A Microsoft Windows port of AcePerl is in the planning stages.

JADE: an approach for interconnecting bioinformatics databases

To achieve the integration of biological data available on the World Wide Web and maintained in diverse sources such as GDB, Genbank or Acedb, we have developed a software called Jade. Jade allows programmers to create analytic tools and graphical user interfaces for one or more existing bioinformatics data sources. These tools can then be interchanged, compared and reused without making modifications in the data sources themselves. The system is implemented in the Java programming language and will run equally well on Macintosh, Windows or Unix workstations. Jade is free and can be used immediately by all interested parties.

Sequence assembly with CAFTOOLS

Large-scale genomic sequencing requires a software infrastructure to support and integrate applications that are not directly compatible. We describe a suite of software tools built around the Common Assembly Format (CAF), a comprehensive representation of a sequence assembly as a text file. These tools form the backbone of sequencing informatics at the Sanger Centre and the Genome Sequencing Center. The CAF format is intentionally flexible, and our Perl and C libraries, which parse and manipulate it, provide powerful tools for creating new applications as well as wrappers to incorporate other software. The tools are available free by anonymous FTP from ftp://ftp.sanger.ac.uk/pub/badger/.

The C. elegans genome sequencing project: a beginning

The long-term goal of this project is the elucidation of the complete sequence of the Caenorhabditis elegans genome. During the first year methods have been developed and a strategy implemented that is amenable to large-scale sequencing. The three cosmids sequenced in this initial phase are surprisingly rich in genes, many of which have mammalian homologues.

Exterior gauging of an internal supersymmetry and SU(2/1) quantum asthenodynamics

A formally unitary Lagrangian model gauging an internal supersymmetry is proposed. The even subalgebra is gauged as a Yang-Mills theory, while the odd generators are gauged-according to Freedman's method-by skew tensor fields, equivalent dynamically to scalar Higgs fields. Chiral fermions are incorporated by following Townsend's construction and form irreducible supermultiplets graded by their helicity. The application to quantum asthenodynamics is discussed.

Geometrical gauge theory of ghost and Goldstone fields and of ghost symmetries

We provide a geometrical identification of the ghost fields, essential to the renormalization procedure in the non-Abelian (Yang-Mills) case. These are some of the local components of a connection on a principal bundle. They multiply the differentials of coordinates spanning directions orthogonal to those of a given section, whereas the Yang-Mills potential multiplies the coordinates in the section itself. In the case of a supergroup, the ghosts become commutative for the odd directions, and represent Nambu-Goldstone fields. We apply the results to chiral "flavor" SU(3)(L) x SU(3)(R) and to SU(2/1). The latter reproduces a highly constrained Weinberg-Salam model.