Grant: Project Grant

Our goal in this project is to continue providing researchers with deleterious mutations in genes in the small model nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. We will focus on a target list of genes that includes genes with human counterparts (homologs) as well as nematode specific genes. The former group of genes is of practical importance in human health and disease as C. elegans offers a suitable model to efficiently determine the function of a novel gene at the cellular and intercellular level. The latter group of genes are important to target because various nematodes are parasites of humans, livestock and crop plants. Determining the function of genes specific to nematodes could offer the pharmaceutical industry new targets to effectively kill parasitic nematodes with little or no side-effects on the host. Many biochemical pathways are conserved between the nematode and humans and genes within the nematode can often be functionally replaced by their human homologs. In many cases these genes when dysfunctional within humans lead to inherited diseases, susceptibility to cancers or other health related problems. Understanding the basic biological function of these genes in the nematode will have direct benefits for medical diagnosis and treatment in humans. On a broader level, the availability of thousands of gene knockouts in C. elegans will provide a powerful resource to study a range of basic problems in developmental biology. The impact of this project will be to open up new avenues of discovery on gene function. The C. elegans Gene Knockout Facility at the University of British Columbia is part of an International Consortium and is recognized worldwide as a leader for C. elegans genetics and genomic studies. The mutant strains we provide are a priceless resource, and because nematodes can be frozen these mutant strains are a permanent resource. This will be a significant and enduring legacy of Canadian science.