CHAPTER TITLE : Applications of RNAi in C . elegans research

The discovery of RNA interference in C. elegans in 1998 has established this nematode as a key model to study RNAi mechanisms. Meanwhile, RNAi has been extensively applied to study a variety of basic biological questions in worms. In C. elegans, the dsRNA required to trigger RNAi can be administered by injection, by soaking, and importantly, by feeding. The delivery of dsRNA through food and the existence of two RNAi feeding libraries allow for large scale RNAi approaches. Thus, RNAi libraries have been used to screen for genes related with processes as diverse as embryonic development, longevity, fat accumulation, DNA damage response, axon guidance or synapse structure, among others. Moreover, since RNAi facilitates the inactivation of more than one gene at the time in the same animal, RNAi assays are being applied to uncover genetics interactions among genes and therefore there is a significant and ongoing progress in identifying components of genetics pathways and networks. Here we review successful applications of RNAi as tool in C. elegans research, and discuss trends in using such tool to shed light into several biological research fields.