Gene expression profiling studies on Caenorhabditis elegans dystrophin mutants dys-1(cx-35) and dys-1(cx18).

The Caenorhabditis elegans genome contains a single dystrophin/utrophin orthologue, dys-1. Point mutations in this gene, dys-1(cx35) and dys-1(cx18), result in truncated proteins. Such mutants offer potentially valuable worm models of human Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Single-cell analysis reveals cell-specific patterns of expression of a family of putative voltage-gated sodium channel genes in the leech.

To understand the molecular basis of nervous system function in the leech, Hirudo medicinalis, we have isolated four novel cDNAs encoding putative voltage-gated sodium (Na) channel alpha subunits, and have analyzed the expression of these genes in individual neurons of known function. To begin, degenerate oligonucleotide primers were used in combination with pre-existing cDNA libraries and reverse transcriptase-coupled polymerase chain reactions (RT-PCR). The putative leech Na channel cDNAs (LeNas) exhibit a higher degree of sequence homology to Na channel genes in other species than to voltage-gated calcium or potassium channel genes, including those expressed in leech.