FIGURE 1

Examples of C. elegans phenotypes used for genome-wide RNAi screening. Growth, apoptosis, and vulval phenotypes are shown, with wildtype on the left and mutant on the right. (a, b) Growth /Lethality assay. Wells from an RNAi screen for lethality carried out in 96-well liquid culture format. (a) Wildtype adult worms put into the bacterial culture and their progenies are visible. (b) In a well where embryonic lethality was induced by RNAi, no progeny are visible. (c–f) Germline apoptosis assay. Germline corpses are visible after live staining with acridine orange. Sections of gonads viewed with DIC optics (c and d) or under fluorescence (e and f). (c and e) Wildtype adult hermaphrodite gonad with one corpse (arrow). (d and f) ced-9 mutant gonad with excess corpses (arrows). (g and h) Multivulval assay. (g) A single wildtype vulva or (h) multiple vulvae protrusions that can be detected under the dissecting scope; this animal has a gain-of-function mutation in let-60 Ras. (g and h) White arrows point to the normal vulva and in (h) the black arrows indicate the ectopic vulvae