Cell Identification and Cell Lineage Analysis - Caenorhabditis Elegans: Molecular Genetics and Development - page 323

Table I
Cell-lineage analysis in other nematode species

Species Lineages studied Reference

Panagrellus redivivus Postembryonic lineages ( Sternberg and Horvitz, 1981, 1982 )

Turbatrix aceti Early embryo ( Sulston et al., 1983 )

Mesorhabditis etc. Vulval lineages ( Sommer et al., 1994 )

Pristionchus pacificus Vulval lineages ( Sommer, 1997 )

Acrobeloides ( Wiegner and Schierenberg, 1998 )

Oscheius tipulae Vulval cell lineage ( Delattre and Felix, 2001 )

Pellioditis marina Complete embryonic lineage ( Houthoofd et al., 2003 )

Halicephalobus gingivalis ( Houthoofd and Borgonie, 2007 )

Rhabditophanes Embryonic lineage ( Houthoofd et al., 2008 )

C. briggsae Embryonic lineage; automated lineage tracing ( Zhao et al., 2008 )

Diploscapter coronatus Embryonic lineage ( Lahl et al., 2009 )

Romanomermis culicivorax Embryonic lineage ( Schulze and Schierenberg, 2008, 2009 )

Table II
Key publications describing C. elegans lineages

Lineages Reference

Ventral nerve cord ( Sulston, 1976 )

Postembryonic nongonadal lineages (hermaphrodite) ( Sulston and Horvitz, 1977 )

Gonadal lineages (both sexes) ( Kimble and Hirsh, 1979 )

Postembryonic nongonadal lineages (male) ( Sulston et al., 1980 )

Embryonic lineage ( Deppe et al., 1978; Sulston et al., 1983 )

when misplaced in aberrant locations as a result of a cell migration defect. Most
importantly, whereas under DIC observation only cell nuclei are typically resolved,
GFP markers can be used to visualize the entire cell, or specific subcellular compart-
ments. The ability to see axons, muscle arms, and other structures in live animals
opened up whole new areas of analysis.
GFP transgenic markers have in many cases replaced DIC for cell identification.
Nevertheless there are still reasons to learn the DIC anatomy. First, transgenic
markers are not available for all cell types or subsets of cell types. Second, care is
needed to ensure that the GFP marker (often a high-copy number transgene) does not
itself interfere with cell differentiation. Issues of photobleaching or phototoxicity
often limit the amount of observation possible, although this has been to some extent
overcome in the automated analysis of embryonic cell divisions. Finally, analyzing a
number of markers can involve considerable strain construction, work that can be
avoided if the cells can be identified by DIC.