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Summary: NATURE |VOL 408 |16 NOVEMBER 2000 |www.nature.com 325
articles
Functional genomic analysis of
C. elegans chromosome I by
systematic RNA interference
Andrew G. Fraser*², Ravi S. Kamath*², Peder Zipperlen*², Maruxa Martinez-Campos*, Marc Sohrmann³ & Julie Ahringer*
* Wellcome/CRC Institute, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, CB2 1QR Cambridge, UK
³ The Sanger Centre, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK
² These authors contributed equally to this work
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Complete genomic sequence is known for two multicellular eukaryotes, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans and the fruit ¯y
Drosophila melanogaster, and it will soon be known for humans. However, biological function has been assigned to only a small
proportion of the predicted genes in any animal. Here we have used RNA-mediated interference (RNAi) to target nearly 90% of
predicted genes on C. elegans chromosome I by feeding worms with bacteria that express double-stranded RNA. We have assigned
function to 13.9% of the genes analysed, increasing the number of sequenced genes with known phenotypes on chromosome I
from 70 to 378. Although most genes with sterile or embryonic lethal RNAi phenotypes are involved in basal cell metabolism, many
genes giving post-embryonic phenotypes have conserved sequences but unknown function. In addition, conserved genes are
signi®cantly more likely to have an RNAi phenotype than are genes with no conservation. We have constructed a reusable library of
bacterial clones that will permit unlimited RNAi screens in the future; this should help develop a more complete view of the
relationships between the genome, gene function and the environment.
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