The consequences of knocking down expression can shed light on the role of a gene in cellular processes. However, most knock-downs lead to no observable phenotype, demonstrating the robustness of cells to genetic information damage. Multiple knock-downs, in which the expression of two or more genes is silenced, can reveal functional couplings between genes. To date, most genome-wide synthetic genetic screens have been conducted in single-cellular organisms. We have concluded a systematic screen in C. elegans to reveal genetic interactions among signaling genes in a multicellular animal. By integrating the new genetic interaction network with other high-throughput datasets in C. elegans and other model organisms, we identified new modules of gene activity supported by multiple lines of evidence. We find that synthetic genetic interactions bridge across, rather than within, pathways, as has been found in previous studies on yeast. However, the specific linkages between pathways do not appear to be conserved, as worms appear to contain different bridges than yeast. We speculate that synthetic genetic connections are free to neutrally drift, allowing selection for new couplings between pathways as species evolve.

This work was recently published in Journal of Biology. The reference is:

Byrne AB, Weirauch MT, Wong V, Koeva M, Dixon SJ, Stuart JM, Roy PJ. A global analysis of genetic interactions in Caenorhabditis elegans. J Biol. 2007 Sep 26;6(3):8 [PubMedID: 17897480]