VANCOUVER - Scientists in the Genome Sequence Centre (GSC) at the BC Cancer Agency have played a vital role in pinpointing the function of genes contained in two of the six chromosomes found in Caenorhabditis elegans (C.elegans), a microscopic roundworm.

The Genome Sequence Centre, as part of a consortium of international research organizations, provided the Bioinformatic analysis required for this comprehensive study. Bioinformatics is the marriage of biology and computer science.

In a paper published in the Thursday, November 16th issue of the science journal, Nature, researchers based in Germany reveal they have produced a catalogue of the function of genes contained in C.elegans chromosome 3. A second research team based in Britain is credited with determining the function of genes in chromosome 2.

This means researchers have created an inventory of about one-quarter of all 19,000 genes in C.elegans and assigned a function to a significant number of them. A major impetus of the project was to identify the genes that allow cells to divide. Eventually, researchers hope to determine all the genes playing a role in cell division.

"This represents the first step in understanding cell division as a whole," said Dr. Steven Jones, head of Bioinformatics at the Genome Sequence Centre.

"This has major implications for cancer research, since cancer is essentially uncontrolled cell division and there are a significant number of genes involved," Dr. Jones added. "By systematically knocking out each gene in C.elegans, we gain new knowledge into the role each gene plays in cell division," he said.

In theory, if every gene involved in cell division can be determined, each of these genes then becomes a potential target for cancer treatment.

Dr. Jones and his team provided the Bioinformatic analysis for both the German and British Groups by designing DNA molecules that were used to individually target each gene.

Jones' research colleagues in Europe then "turned off" each of the genes using a technique called RNA inhibition. One by one, researchers knocked out each gene and recorded what losing each gene meant to the process of cell division.

"Although we are still several years away from developing compounds that could block the genes that interfere with cell division, research such as this helps us focus our resources and energies on the genes we think will make the best targets," Dr. Jones added.

C.elegans is a structurally simple organism, but it shares many of the biological characteristics common to all animals, including humans. Much of what is learned from the roundworm will be directly transferable to human biology.

The Genome Sequence Centre at the BC Cancer Agency is one of a handful of laboratories contributing to the enormous global undertaking of mapping and sequencing the genomes of a variety of organisms. It is the first gene science program in Canada dedicated to deciphering genetic code in an effort to advance cancer research, diagnosis and treatment.

Results of the study will be published in Nature November 16th, 2000 in a paper entitled Functional genomic analysis of cell division in C. elegans using RNA interference of genes on chromosome III.

For a copy of the paper, visit www.nature.com