Caenorhabditis Genetics Center

Grant Number: P40OD010440

Research Emphasis/Objectives

The Caenorhabditis Genetics Center (CGC) acquires, maintains, and distributes genetic stocks and information about stocks of the small free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. The goal is to maintain a null mutation for every gene, as well as strains providing useful genetic and molecular tools. Strains selected for inclusion in the CGC include chromosome rearrangements (balancers) and deficiencies, tagged endogenous loci, and tools for sex-, cell-, and temporal-specific gene expression or cell destruction. CGC staff also generate strains to enhance the collection of genetic tools available to the research community, engineering deletions of microRNA genes not yet represented in the collection and marking balancer chromosomes with fluorescent reporter genes to increase ease of use.

Services Provided

The CGC collection contains nearly 22,000 nematode strains available to order by investigators conducting research on this genetic model organism. Stocks are also provided to instructors for educational use. The CGC has stocks of nematode species closely related to C. elegans and bacterial strains necessary for nematode growth—for performing RNA interference experiments—and representative strains from the C. elegans microbiome collection. The CGC maintains a website with a searchable online catalog providing up-to-date information about strains available from the CGC. All strain requests must be submitted through the CGC web-based ordering system. New users must register their lab with the CGC and receive a lab code before ordering. Users can use links embedded in CGC pages to quickly and easily view relevant information about strains, genes, and genetics variations at WormBase. The CGC site also provides general information about C. elegans, with links to introductory methodology and websites of other key resources for researchers in the field, such as WormBook and WormAtlas. CGC staff are available by email or phone to answer questions about orders and strains.

Contact Information

Caenorhabditis Genetics Center
Department of Genetics and Cell Biology
University of Minnesota
6-160 Jackson Hall
321 Church St., SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Caenorhabditis Genetics Center (CGC)

Principal Investigator

Ann E. Rougvie, Ph.D.
rougvie@umn.edu

Head Curator

Aric Daul, Ph.D.
Phone: 612-625-2265
cgc@umn.edu