Efficient high-resolution deletion discovery in Caenorhabditis elegans by array comparative genomic hybridization

Genome Res. 2007 Mar;17(3):337-47. doi: 10.1101/gr.5690307. Epub 2007 Jan 31.

Abstract

We have developed array Comparative Genomic Hybridization for Caenorhabditis elegans as a means of screening for novel induced deletions in this organism. We designed three microarrays consisting of overlapping 50-mer probes to annotated exons and micro-RNAs, the first with probes to chromosomes X and II, the second with probes to chromosome II alone, and a third to the entire genome. These arrays were used to reliably detect both a large (50 kb) multigene deletion and a small (1 kb) single-gene deletion in homozygous and heterozygous samples. In one case, a deletion breakpoint was resolved to fewer than 50 bp. In an experiment designed to identify new mutations we used the X:II and II arrays to detect deletions associated with lethal mutants on chromosome II. One is an 8-kb deletion targeting the ast-1 gene on chromosome II and another is a 141-bp deletion in the gene C06A8.1. Others span large sections of the chromosome, up to >750 kb. As a further application of array Comparative Genomic Hybridization in C. elegans we used the whole-genome array to detect the extensive natural gene content variation (almost 2%) between the N2 Bristol strain and the strain CB4856, a strain isolated in Hawaii and JU258, a strain isolated in Madeira.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Atlantic Islands
  • Caenorhabditis elegans / genetics*
  • Chromosomes / genetics*
  • Exons / genetics
  • Fluorescence
  • Gene Deletion*
  • Genomics / methods*
  • Hawaii
  • MicroRNAs / genetics
  • Microarray Analysis / methods*
  • Nucleic Acid Hybridization / methods*

Substances

  • MicroRNAs