Targeted single-cell induction of gene products in Caenorhabditis elegans: a new tool for developmental studies.
Heat shock promoters have been employed to achieve tightly regulated expression of transformed genes in a wide variety of model systems including tissue culture cells, bacteria, yeast, Drosophila, and more recently Caenorhabditis elegans. Here we investigate the feasibility of using a laser microbeam to induce a sub-lethal heat shock response in individual cells of C. elegans. We demonstrate that in transgenic strains carrying heat shock promoter-lacZ fusions, single cell expression of beta-galactosidase in a variety of cell types of endodermal, mesodermal, or ectodermal origin can be achieved after pulsing with a laser. A tissue-general, inducible promoter can therefore be converted into one of single cell specificity which can be induced rapidly at any point in development, offering unique opportunities to study cell-cell interactions in C. elegans. This technique defines a new approach to generate mosaic animals and may be adaptable to other organisms or tissues.
Department of Biochemistry, U.B.C., Vancouver, Canada.
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EG
Stringham
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EP
Candido
D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans; D015509:Developmental Biology / Q000379:methods*; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D007763:Lac Operon; D007834:Lasers; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D001616:beta-Galactosidase / Q000235:genetics
D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D001616:beta-Galactosidase