Http://C. elegans: mining the functional genomic landscape.

Caenorhabditis elegans is a powerful animal model for the study of functional genomics. The completed and well-annotated DNA sequence is available and a systematic study of gene function by RNA-interference-mediated knockdown of every gene is in progress. Full-genome DNA microarrays and DNA chips can be used to determine expression changes at different stages of development and in different mutant backgrounds, and a protein-interaction map based on the yeast two-hybrid approach is in progress. These high-capacity approaches to studying gene function will provide new insights into invertebrate and vertebrate biology.